


Alchemist's Quest for a Dragon's Scale

by Morbid1Curiosity



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alchemy, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fantasy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbid1Curiosity/pseuds/Morbid1Curiosity
Summary: When it comes to your dreams, just how much would You do to reach them? Ruby would do a lot. There wasn't a quest or a task she wouldn't be afraid to try, as long as she could reach her life goal of becoming an Alchemist. But what if she was tasked to find the most elusive of creatures? A creature said to be gone for centuries? Will she give up? Or will she attempt to find a dragon?
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 54
Kudos: 167
Collections: Rwby





	1. The Alchemist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note, this has nothing to do with my "other" dragon story. More info at the bottom, hope you enjoy! The story, not the info at the bottom.

"What?! Denied again? But why?!" Ruby asked as she glanced at the document.

"Miss Rose, we went through this plenty of times, you do not qualify to become an alchemist." One of the three individuals sitting behind the desk replied calmly.

"How so? I passed the test with the highest score! My workshop has the minimum requirements for me to start, according to rules I very much qualify!" Ruby huffed in annoyance.

"Yes, perhaps, but there's one more rule you forgot about." One of the men spoke, Ruby wasn't sure which of them spoke when, for all, she cared they could be the same entity, as they seemed to be so likely minded.

"Like what?" Ruby crossed her arms, ready for whatever it would be. This always ended up like this. Ever since she attempted, they threw rules at her, and each time she was able to overcome it. She wouldn't give up now.

"Finding a bride." One of them explained calmly.

At that Ruby's face grew red, she wasn't expecting something this... Well, personal. "I... Uh, you know. I mean, I'm still young! I could easily find someone, I don't see how it's a big deal. I mean..."

Before Ruby could continue, one of the men interrupted her. "No, miss Rose. You don't understand. Finding a bride, a wife. Not becoming one. As such it's impossible for you to acquire a license since you'll never qualify under this specific rule."

The redhead could feel her ears flair up, not because of embarrassment, not entirely, but the bigger part of that was anger. "But that's unfair! I'm no worse than a man!"

"We're not saying you're worse, hence why we're sure that any of the other guilds will accept your skills and make good use of it. The alchemy guild has a long tradition and rules that are fundaments for its existence. If we started to make exceptions it would crumble underneath its own weight." It was rare for Ruby to be angry, this was one of those rare occasions. They knew this all along, yet they sent her on a wild goose chase with all the additional steps, only to take it all away from her, this time without any hope of getting it back.

"Please!" She was desperate. "I beg you, anything. Give me any task, even if you deem it impossible, I swear I'll do whatever it takes to join the guild."

The trio of man looked at each other.

oooOOOooo

As the door slammed, Yang glanced towards the source of the sound, only to notice her younger sister exiting the building. "Denied again?" She asked. It wasn't the first time and most likely not the last, knowing Ruby at least.

"No." The younger girl mumbled in annoyance as she walked past the blond, not even stopping to wait up for her.

"Huh? Wait, what? You got accepted?" Yang was too shocked about the news to really pay attention to her sister's rude behavior. "What's with the grumpy face then?"

"I wasn't denied." Ruby stopped and turned to face her sister. "But I wasn't accepted either."

"There's a third option?" Yang was now utterly confused.

"They gave me a task, if I complete it, I'll be accepted." Ruby explained with a sigh.

"Oh... Wait! It's nothing... You know It's nothing perverted right?!" Yang's eyes turned red at the mere thought of such. "That's it, I'll personally tell them what I think about them using my sister's dream like that." As she turned around towards the guild's building, she felt her arm being caught.

"Yang, no! Stop! Nobody said anything about... Ugh, about anything. It's nothing like that." Ruby shook her head and let out another sigh. "They want me to make an item out of a dragon scale."

"Huh?" It took a moment but this new piece of information calmed Yang down before there could be any damage done. She let out her own sigh, one of relief, after hearing that. "Well, that's good."

"Good? Good?! How is that good, Yang?! A dragon! That's not good." Ruby couldn't hold it in her anymore, as the wrong combination of circumstances made her explode on her own.

"Whoa, calm down there, they gave you an impossible task, meaning they don't want you in. As your big sister, I'll take that over you having to... Ugh... Nevermind." Yang shook her head.

"It's not impossible, just... Just very hard!" Ruby protested as if she herself went one-eighty on the idea.

"Ruby, dragons are no more. The only information we have about them is from elves and dwarves, and even then it's so old it mixes in any facts with fables and legends." It was always like that, while it was quite charming and refreshing to see someone regain their optimistic view on a certain topic so quickly, whenever Ruby wandered into that guildhall, she always ended up like this. New goose chase and thinking that this time she could be accepted.

"T-That's not true, there were sightings!" Ruby tried to defend her point, but Yang knew better than that.

"And each time it turned out it was a wyvern and nothing more. I'm sorry sis, but they just don't want you here, it's not your fault our town's alchemy guild is the most fundamentalistic one. Why not try another city?" While the idea of Ruby leaving wasn't the sweetest of deals for Yang, it would get her closer to her goal, right? Besides, Yang could go with her. Why not? Adventurer guilds all over the kingdom were always filled with requests.

"I can't, Yang, I always tell you that to join the alchemy guild you have to be born in the city you wish to join or be a citizen of the city for at least ten years. Ten years! Yang, that's... That's a lot of time of not being an alchemist." As the younger girl explained, Yang observed her arms flailing. It was amusing, even if her words were a bit of a bummer. Yang wouldn't mind for a change of scenery.

"Why not join some other guild? You have all that knowledge after studying alchemy. You know how to fight, you know a bit of magic and you bring in your own fair of tricks with all that alchemy stuff." Yang continued, it was hard to tell if she was trying to cheer the girl up or not at this point.

"You very well know why." Ruby answered grumpily.

"Well, yeah but-whoa!" Yang was interrupted as she noticed something under her boots in the last moment. With all her natural and learned balance, it wasn't enough to keep her from falling onto the rocky pavement. Grunting, she tried to sit up as she glanced at what it was exactly that she saved from being stomped by her heavy boots. A cat.

"Yang!" It was a split second in which all of it happened, with the younger girl yelling after her sister and kneeling next to her. "You alright? That looked like it'd hurt."

"I'm glad it lived up to its expectations then." Yang answered with yet another grunt, yet she offered a cocky smile towards her younger sister, as to not worry her too much. After that, she glanced back at the cat. It seemed to be occupied with eating a fish that was placed on a piece of paper. Well, before the accident, since right now it was looking at her with its big golden eyes. "Well? What are you staring at? Take your fish and hide somewhere before someone less observant steps on you. Shoo!" Yang waved at the cat, which was enough for it to grab its half-eaten fish and run off into one of the countless alleys.

"Think someone did that on purpose? Leaving a fish in the middle of the street?" Ruby asked as she helped Yang to get back on her feet.

"Not sure, but that cat was lucky to not lose one of its lives today." Yang said as she glanced at the ground. Something got her attention as she squinted her eyes. "No way."

"Huh? What?" Ruby's brow rose as she watched Yang pick up the piece of paper that the fish was on earlier. Seeing that, the younger girl winced. "Ew, Yang, gross."

"Speaking of dragons." Yang said, ignoring Ruby's comment as she showed what the paper's content was. "Look at this."

The redhead glanced between Yang and the piece of paper a few times as if expecting the other girl to joke. Seeing that she was serious, she focused on the content of it, whatever she could make out of it. At first, it didn't seem important, if anything it was a document from Yang's organization, the adventurer's guild, she saw a few of those, mostly thanks to Yang, who else. Still, as she continued to read, her eyes grew. "They reported seeing a dragon!" Ruby yelled, not able to contain her happiness.

"Calm down." Yang said as she placed a hand on top of the younger girl's head. "This is exactly what I told you, people constantly report dragons and it always turns out it's a wyvern or something even less dangerous if anything at all." The blonde shook her head.

"How can you be so sure with this one, huh? Yang, this is fate! Just when I need one, it appears." Ruby frowned, Yang wouldn't take this from her. This was exactly what Ruby needed.

"Ruby, why do you think this was used as a plate for a cat?" The older of the two let out a small sigh. "This is from Dragon Lake, a village that, for some reason, constantly reports dragon sighting. They want to bring in people like you, lure them in so they would stay over there, spend coins, and try to find a dragon that's non-existent. It's not the first report like that from there... This month."

"Dragon's Lake." Ruby repeated that name to herself as she nodded. It was too late, she was already forming plans on how to get there, what supplies to take, and everything else. She needed to prepare herself, it was a dragon after all.

"Ruby, no. Please, it'll be a fool's errand. I'm telling you, you won't find a dragon over there." Even as Yang was saying that she knew it was pointless. Ruby already made her mind. "Look, at least wait a week or two, we have a bigger thing set up and I already agreed to be part of it. After that, I'll go with you."

"Two weeks?! Yang! That dragon might be gone if I wait as much as a day!" Ruby shook her head. "Nuh huh, I'm packing up and leaving as soon as possible. Even if I have to travel by night." She turned around and was ready to head towards her workshop, but was stopped as Yang reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Whoa, hold on there. At least promise me you won't travel by night. First thing in the morning, but not night. Come on, at least this much." Yang pleaded with her younger sister. Ruby wanted to argue, but one glance at Yang's worried expression stopped her from doing so.

With an annoyed sigh, Ruby gave in. "Fine, this much I can promise, but nothing else."

"Right, well go get ready. You know where to find me if you need anything. Just be sure you get everything you need with you." It was clear to Ruby that she did it without Yang's full approval, still, this was her chance to finally fulfill her dream. And when life gives you a dragon...

oooOOOooo

There was a moment when Ruby was excited and full of energy, optimistic to a dangerous degree. All of that slowly deflated over time the closer she got to her workshop. Which was also her home. Why? The deflation that is. Well, rare or not, it was a dragon. How exactly would she convince a dragon to give her a scale? Was it even possible? Would it be like cutting out part of your skin? She never studied biology as such she never thought about how lizards work in regards to scales. Even then, she heard that dragons are more like... Cats. Why? She wasn't sure, but there was that.

No, she had to focus. She needed a plan, she had to prepare, just like Yang said. Otherwise, even if she arrives there and there will be an actual dragon, it'll all be in vain. She glanced around the main room. This was the workshop part of her home. With various stations, as they were referred to officially, all in order to perform basic and advanced alchemy functions. Blacksmith portion, fletcher, tanning racks, spinning looms even carpenter tools, anything to create some sort of object, or to process raw ingredients into half materials. There were of course more complicated stations. Like the enchanting one and the chemistry one. To this day most uneducated people didn't understand the difference between alchemy and chemistry, something that always made Ruby smile. Since she was one of them long ago.

Why all this? Because an alchemist profession is to create a fully enhanced object out of raw ingredients. There were of course ways to enhance a sword or armor or whatever it is people needed to have a semi-permanent magical effect, yet the effect was stronger when an object was created from ground up with a thought of a certain specific enhancement. Or a few of those. Regardless, that was what an alchemist did. Mainly. There were other, more subtle things, but they weren't as important. Mostly because they were advanced techniques and quite expensive.

Another part was that an alchemist had to at least possess a basic knowledge of using whatever object it is he created. That mostly meant armors, weapons, and tools. Although Ruby heard of an alchemist that made whole ships. Daring, but not something she would want to tap into. That's also why Yang always tried to push her towards a different type of work since she had the basic skill to apply to any of the other guilds. Yet there was only one guild she really wanted to belong to. One that was so adamant about not letting her in. But she was stubborn, she would achieve her dream.

Ruby smiled at all that. It was a lot yet she knew how to use every one of those tools she possessed. It always refreshed her resolution in becoming an alchemist. How did she afford that? A simple question a lot of people, who knew her little dream and issues connected to it, asked whenever they entered her home. Simple, she did all of the jobs mentioned above, but separately. She made weapons, clothing, armors. She enchanted things, created potions, or whatever substances were requested. She did a good job, at least she liked to think so since she always had enough customers to be able to pay all the required taxes and be able to live without money issues.

Speaking of valuables, that was something she needed to figure out if she wanted to avoid having to fight a dragon. It was perhaps one of the few constants in dragon stories, legends, and any kind of sources of information about dragon. They were greedy or at least they liked things of great value. Now, while she could survive without an issue month to month, her stash of emergency gold wasn't exactly worthy of a dragon hoard. Especially since she assumed that a dragon scale would cost a lot. She would need a lot of gold to cut out her own skin and give it to someone, which was her line of logic in regards to the scale business.

She could make something, after all, alchemy was open to anyone, just having an alchemy shop was forbidden if one wasn't formally part of the guild. Yet the issue remained the same, she didn't have gold to buy expensive materials. She didn't even have an idea of what to do, not to mention creating something from scratch was a very delicate and long process.

No, she lacked the most important resource of them all. Time. She didn't have a lot of options. She could ask Yang for some money but... First of all, she hated being dependent on Yang in any way or form. Not because she disliked her sister, quite the opposite, she loved Yang. She simply didn't want to be a bother. Not a bother, a burden. She knew her life goal was selfish, especially since it was almost impossible to achieve, at least in this city.

No, this... This wasn't the time. Ruby shook her head and looked around. Her eyes focused on one of the walls. Not just any wall, but a very important one. She slowly approached it and placed a hand on the bricks. The palms of her hands moved along the rough texture. Her eyes followed her fingers, counting. One, two, three, four, click. Her hand pressed against one of the bricks. She felt the subtle vibration of the mechanism on the other side of the wall. The secret compartment open, she glanced inside.

This wasn't something she built, not even requested, as this house stood here for far longer then her dad would remember. She wasn't even told about it, no. It was an accident she found it, while practicing her magic, one of her divination spells acted odd, which lead her to a little investigation after which she ended up with the knowledge of this small place. Why was she looking for it right now? Simple, it held the treasure she could easily smuggle and that potentially could earn her a dragon scale. Hopefully.

Reaching inside, she extracted a small pouch filled with coins. She poured them onto her hand. Gold, not much, but it was her rainy day fund in case of emergency. You never know. She smiled to herself as she counted. Just as she left it. Putting the coins back into the small leather bag, she placed it on the ground. This wasn't what she was after. She waved her hand and snapped her fingers. That dispelled a small, trivial illusion that partially worked thanks to her own magic and partially thanks to the darkness of the compartment. Once the fake wall was gone, the true treasure revealed itself. She reached towards it.

There it was, cold in her hand. Looking down, it was just as she remembered it to be. Silver chain that kept sizable neatly cut ruby in a casing made out of the same metal as the chain. She looked into her own reflection, distorted by the angles of the gem. Would she really give this out? How far could she go to try and reach for her dreams? No, this wasn't the time. She had something she could trade. Small, yet valuable. Now she just had to plan a route, pack up and do whatever she had to do, to prepare herself for the upcoming journey.

oooOOOooo

Ruby never considered herself to be a city girl. She liked the rural areas and she enjoyed traveling through all the local woods and forests, lake areas, and even a few other, dangerous places whenever she needed something out of them. Yet, at best, it took her two days to get there. Day of traveling wherever she needed to, camping for the night and heading back. All on foot. Now, after traveling for a few days on a horse? Yes, she was a city girl. She was in no way and form a traveler. At least not yet.

Still, even as exhausted as she was from her long journey, the sight of the small village that was her destination managed to bring a smile on her lips. It reminded her of the goal she came to achieve here.

Leaving her horse at the stables, she began to slowly wander through the village. While on the outside it seemed small, it wasn't. Not for the right reasons too, if that made sense. There weren't a lot of homes, but rather it had a hefty spacing between each and every building, and on top of that there was a large area in the middle of it all, presumably for some kind of special occasions. The entire place was also incredibly neat. As in clean, for a rural area that is. People seemed to smile her way which was also an oddity. Usually, folks were too busy minding their own business. Sure, there was a nod or a small smile from time to time, but not like this. Not all the time.

All of this made Ruby's neck hair stand up. This was too friendly, this was too nice. It's like this entire place had this wrong vibe about it. Regardless she hoped that they wouldn't mug her. If they tried she would have to defend herself. Fighting anything that wasn't a monster was the least enjoyable thing for Ruby. Still, if she had to, what other choice did she have?

Of course, it would be stupid to judge them all simply because they took care of their village and were friendly. Perhaps there was a reason for it all. The reason, that word reminded Ruby of why she came here. Dragon, there was supposed to be a dragon somewhere here and reported by folks of this here place. But shouldn't that make those people terrified? Or at least vary of whatever might happen? This just added another layer of worry. Something was definitely odd about this place. Still, odd or not, she was tired, and right now there was only one place she wanted to be at.

oooOOOooo

Ruby couldn't hold her smile as she felt the cold liquid move down her body. Luckily this place had an inn, which she grew afraid would be yet another anomaly of this place. Not having one. Ordering whatever was being cooked and some thin wine, she enjoyed the comfiness of the chair she currently occupied. While some people could argue that she just spent most of her journey sitting in a saddle, it was quite a different experience to sit on something that wasn't constantly on the move.

Looking down her mug, she wondered if she should get another one for when her food comes in. She wasn't much for drinking liquor of any kind, but she was educated enough to know that drinking dirty water could lead to health issues. While people weren't sure why boiled water and drinks prepared on such were the only way to avoid any kind of sickness. The substitute for that was alcohol. Which was the reason she ordered a thin wine, which was just a nice term for watered-down wine.

While considering her options, something caught her attention. Two men entered the place, which wasn't odd, after all, it was an inn. If anything, Ruby was surprised it was just her and the innkeeper up till now. No, what was odd was that one of them, who looked like a local, pointed in her direction. She assumed the gesture was supposed to be discrete, which of course it was far from it. What was more worrying was how the other man looked. In a rugged duster and a hat that seen better days. Ruby wasn't sure, but from here it looked like he was a middle-aged man.

The odd-looking fellow nodded to the villager and started to slowly walk Ruby's way. From the sound of his footstep, Ruby deduced that he had to have a peg leg. Speaking of, the closer he got, the more obvious it became that the peg leg was not the only replacement limb, as he seemed to have a hook for a hand. Was this man a pirate? Sailor? What did he do so far from the sea? Or any kind of big water? Regardless, as the man approached her, she hid one of her arms under her cloak. A universal sign of distrust, as it was supposed to signal the outside world that your hand just went for your weapon. Just in case, of course.

"Good day missy, no need to worry about this old man." He greeted her, commenting on her gesture. "This here body had enough fights in its lifetime, the best I could do is to not fall on my ass when pushed, really."

"I apologize, it's just that..." Ruby bit her tongue. That what? He looked dangerous? No, the correct word was...

"I look unpleasant? Hah, a pretty girl like yourself has all the rights to be worried when an old bastard like myself be approaching her." He laughed, his voice ragged, like someone who excessively abused alcohol. "Mind if I join you? For a moment, I ain't going to take too much of your time, missy"

"Sure I guess." Ruby nodded. She watched as the man wrestled his way onto a chair, which was the only apt description of what occurred before her eyes. "I hope it's not something I did? I barely arrived here." She added, not wanting too much silence to settle.

"Nah, it's just that whenever folks like you arrive, people here ask me to see if they should be worried or not." The man leaned heavily against the table. The wooden furniture squeaked in protest but held on bravely. "I've been a mercenary for a better part of my life, so I know a bit of this and that. Meet all kinds of folks, you see. And this here lot, they don't want to offend anyone with their basic knowledge of how things are outside of their little world here."

"I see." Ruby glanced at her mug but decided against taking a sip, even if her mouth grew dry. Additional alcohol inside her system would be the last thing she wanted right now. "If you have any questions, go ahead."

"Right." The man glanced around. "You here because of that dragon rumor?" Even if the place was empty, his voice still lowered.

"Dragon?" Ruby's brow raised at that. She decided a bit ago to hide her true intent, for obvious reason. This place seemed suspicious.

"Yeah, you haven't heard? There was a dragon some folks sighted not long ago." The man nodded as if his interrogation turned into nothing more but gossiping.

"I'm afraid I haven't heard anything. I'm a... An alchemy apprentice. I'm here to map out herbs from this area." She nodded. This wasn't a lie. Well, it was, but the process of mapping out certain areas for specific types of ingredients wasn't.

"Huh? Really? Nobody from the guild arrived as well, and our messenger came back, reported her delivered the message. That's odd." The man's brow furrowed further, something Ruby wasn't knew was possible, considering how wrinkled his forehead already was.

"Well... I don't want to be impolite." Ruby started, weaving her own little lie even further. "Your village is known for so many fake dragon sightings that people from the city learned to ignore them. Even the guild doesn't take that seriously anymore, my sister told me so and she's part of it."

At her words, the man slammed his hand against the table, startling Ruby in the process. "See those fools around here, they thought they could get people to come around here if they mentioned a dragon from time to time." The man rumbled his fingers against the wooden table. "The issue is that they forgot what from time to time meant, and now this place became a laughing stock." Ruby wasn't sure how to react to that. At least that solved the mystery of this place. It wasn't anything dangerous, just a ploy to earn coins without doing any of the hard work associated with this type of village. "But don't let it fool you." The man decided to continue, his tone of voice changing drastically. The only way Ruby could describe it would be darker. "Years ago there was a dragon in these parts. My group stumbled upon it. He killed everyone and spared only me. Was it a cruel joke? An accident on his part? Maybe I was to be the warning to leave the beast alone. Whatever it was, I'll never forget that encounter." The hook that Ruby noticed earlier landed and bit into the wood of the table. "He took everything from me, that beast."

Once more, Ruby was left speechless. She wasn't sure what to think about this anymore. Years ago, how many years ago? Did that mean there was no dragon at the present? "I'll keep that in mind." She answered quietly.

"Be careful out there, if you really came here to pick flowers." The man seemed to regain his composure in an instant. "I'll leave you be and tell the folks here that you ain't no one to be afraid of." The ex-mercenary tipped his hat as he slowly stood up, resting his entire weight against the table, Ruby was once again amazed at how solid the wooden object was. As she watched the man slowly leave, her mind started to fill with various thoughts.

oooOOOooo

Sitting on the bed, Ruby looked down at her notes. It was a thick book with her thoughts on various things. Thoughts, recipes, and whatever else needed to be written down, really. It was filled with plenty of loose paper in addition to the book being quite thick on its own. She just finished jotting down the events of today. Seeing it in front of her helped in deciding what to do next. Was there a point in her search? She wasn't even sure why she came here. It was this sudden rush when she heard about the dragon and this place from Yang. Something that already passed and left her lost and confused.

Was this really it? Would her dream of becoming a fully-fledged, licensed alchemist just fade away? Just because of a stupid rule. It seemed like that would be the case. With a sigh, she closed the book and laid down on the bed. She hugged the book to her chest and glanced around. The room was small, she didn't expect much from this inn. Still, it was clean and the furniture seemed solid. Not to mention the bed was comfy enough and it had a window.

Since she traveled this far, she might as well explore a little. Perhaps if not a dragon she'll find something else worth her time. And once she's back home? Well, she'll reconsider her dream. She could always move to a different city as Yang suggested, this could at least create an opportunity for her to become an alchemist at one point in her life. There was also the option to completely ditch that idea and join a different guild.

Perhaps tomorrow's tour around the local wilderness will give her a better idea of what she wanted to do with her life.

oooOOOooo

Yelling woke Ruby up. Luckily it wasn't inside her room, nor it didn't seem to be targeted at her. No, the yelling had to be just outside the inn. While she liked to sleep in, she stretched and peeked outside to see what was going on. There, she saw something she didn't expect to see. A group she recognized. Not just any group, but one from the adventurer's guild. Grinning to herself, she grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs.

There she saw what she hoped for, one of the group members. Her jog down the stairs had to be loud enough because the person noticed her. "Oh! Ruby, hello!" It was a girl, a bit older than Ruby. At least physically, Ruby didn't really know how the differences between their species worked. Long brown hair, lean with brown eyes, and wearing the same color of traveling robes. Oh and the pair of rabbit ears. She was a Faunus after all.

"Uh... Velvet, right?" Ruby asked with a smile as she approached the bunny girl.

The girl in question let out a small laugh. "Yes, Velvet. Although I did enjoy the other name you gave me that one time. What was it? Violet?" The Faunus winked at Ruby.

"Eh, right." Ruby smiled sheepishly as she rubbed her neck. "So uh, what you guys doing here? Also um... What's up with that yelling?" Not wanting to tower over the girl, Ruby sat down in front of her.

"Oh, well... They actually paid to contact me telepathically, since we were heading back from a mission and it was nearby. They asked us to check on that dragon sighting that apparently happened around here." Velvet's ears lowered a tiny bit at the mention of yelling. "Is that the same reason you're here? The dragon rumor?"

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, she decided it was safer to just go with her lie from yesterday. Besides, didn't that lie turn out to be the truth in the end? "Nah, I learned about the dragon stuff after I came here. I'm actually here to look for an herb." The redhead nodded.

"Oh I see, I see. What kind of herb? Maybe I could help, I know a few things about the local flora." The rabbit girl smiled politely.

"It's an uh..." Ruby chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to find a name for something that could grow nearby. Sadly, she drew blanks. She kept books for a reason. The reason being, not having to remember all those things. "Actually, the client asked for the whole thing to be a secret. You know, it's... It's an intimate matter." She hoped that her troubled look was enough to sell her lie.

Velvet's eyes grew a bit at that, but she nodded after a moment. "Of course, I know how important this whole alchemy business is to you." The bunny girl let out a sigh a second after saying that. "I think I should help the boys to calm down Coco." At the mention of it, Ruby remembered there was some kind of yelling happening outside. It became white noise for her.

"Right, good luck with that. If you guys decide to leave, at least say hi to your group from me." Ruby offered with a smile once the heavy topics were off the table.

"Of course, although I'm afraid We'll leave as soon as possible." Velvet stood and was about to head out, but paused. "Oh, right. Since we won't need it, here." She placed a small pouch in front of Ruby. It looked like it had a small marble inside.

"What's that?" Ruby asked, picking the thing up. It did, in fact, turn out it was an object similar to a small marble.

"Moonstone. It's attuned to a Lunar Pillar located nearby. It's..." Velvet's brow furrowed as she looked around. "Somewhere north from here."

"Moonstone?" Ruby glanced inside, she rarely saw those things, but from what she remembered, it sure looked like one of those. "Aren't those expensive to make?" She glanced up at the Faunus.

"Well, it's already made and I don't think we'll be around here anytime soon. So since you'll be exploring here, I thought it could at least get some use. You know, in case something happens." Velvet smiled. "I'm sure Yang would be devastated if something did happen."

"Right, thanks. If you'll ever need anything, be sure to stop by my workshop." Ruby smiled broadly, hiding the pouch into one of her pockets. One of the more secure ones.

Velvet smiled back and offered a wave, heading outside. With one last wave, she disappeared behind the door.

Leaning back in her chair, Ruby glanced at the ceiling. Was this a good or bad omen, she wondered.

oooOOOooo

Walking around the forests wasn't the most productive thing Ruby could do with her time. Especially when you're not looking for anything in particular. She didn't just go out and decide to walk till she found something, that would be even more stupid. No, her plan was to cast simple divination, one that helps to find magical trails. A spell she held dearly ever since she had to look for a certain type of magical berries.

Now, this plan did work out for a bit. For a bit, until she noticed that the trail was going in circles. Ruby wasn't much of a ranger and far from being a druid, as such, it took her a while before she noticed that certain elements of the environment seemed to be identical to things she already saw. At first, she blamed it on the forest. Well, it was a forest, trees do look alike, especially when grouped up. There was also the fact that she focused more on the trail rather then what was around her. Something that Yang would yell at her for doing, but the sole fact that there was a semi-strong trail piqued her curiosity. Besides, Yang wasn't around.

This entire situation was... Awful, to not use stronger words. Or meaner words. Regardless of what type of specific word would be used to describe her situation, it was bad. She wasn't sure what to do and to add salt to injury, dark clouds were gathering above for a bit. Now accompanied by loud thunderclaps. She decided to take things step by step. She had to find cover. She could try to run back, but the chances of getting to the village before the rain hits her were meek. There was also the option to use the moonstone, but it would be such a petty thing to use it for. Besides, she decided that after the rain, she would renew her search.

As the first droplets of water hit her skin, Ruby knew that she idled for too long. She saw a bunch of caves east from her current spot. At least she hoped these were caves. Deciding that there's no other plan, she rushed towards the location she had in mind.

As she ran, she had plenty of time to think about the possibilities. The short term possibilities. Like bears. Bears lived in caves, right? She hoped that a bear could understand that she needed shelter for the time being of the rain. Worst case scenario, she could scare the bear away with some magic. It's better than killing the poor guy. Nodding to herself, she slowed down and started to look around. It seemed that cat luck was a theme for her as of late. What was cat luck? When you throw a cat out of the window and its supposed landing on all four paws. It's a bad situation where you find a little bit of luck to get out of it. Sort of, wouldn't that cat still have broken legs?

Regardless of cat legs, Ruby spotted a cave entrance. Quite big, but it seemed enough to offer some cover from the rain. As soon as she entered it, the rain outside began to heavily pour. Even the forests cover couldn't do much against the heavy droplets that lingered against the leaves. Taking a few breathes, she glanced around. "Hello? Any bears inside?" Not hearing an answer... Well, no kind of roar or something, it's not like she expected a bear to actually talk back to her, she decided that it had to be empty. Bears tend to get angry easily, being woken up from a nap would make a bear angry. It made Yang angry. She was kind of like a bear, sometimes at least.

Still, she wouldn't be stupid enough to just turn her back on a dark cave. Summoning her magic, she created a tiny orb of light. Enough to illuminate the nearby area. She wasn't wrong when she ran here. There was someone in the cave. Although it wasn't a bear. It wasn't a type of situation where it "luckily wasn't a bear"... No, this... This was different.

As Ruby gazed into the deeper parts of the cave, now illuminated with her magic, she met a pair of blue eyes staring back at her.

What was seated before Ruby was unmistakably a Dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I mentioned before, this has nothing to do with my other dragon-themed AU. Actually, this here idea was the first dragon idea I had, but because I couldn't really make certain things work out, I decided to scrap it, I got some different ideas and that other dragon thing was made. Still, I still wanted to make this story to work, which I did. And here we are.
> 
> As for the entire story, I sort of am aware and did it on purpose, sort of, when I made it seem like a bit of an "RPG" scenario. Hey, I also put in a few references here and there. Because I'm a nerd I guess. I dunno. Another thing is the alchemy stuff, this was what initially I had an issue with. At first, Ruby was a blacksmith but this didn't really work out. I mean it could, but it would feel forced. As such, I decided to just screw realism and go full "RPG" mode and introduce an alchemist. An alchemist in a very broad term, since usually alchemy is more related to potion-making. Still, a lot of books, stories, settings, and games take alchemy a few steps further and make it a different type of crafter. I thought that an all-purpose crafter was a good enough idea, not standing out too much and fitting my purpose.
> 
> On a different note, something that most people reading this won't care about, I thought that a change of pace for myself would be nice. Recently I worked on a much more... I dunno, a moodier story from Blake's PoV. I wanted to get away from that before it completely overwhelms my style. Something lighter. And since this story was waiting in the backburner I thought why not go for it.
> 
> Lastly, this should have a few chapters. It's what I consider a short story. I already have bullet points for all chapters. It should be 4, epilogue included in that number.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!


	2. Silver Flame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made an error in the last chapter or rather after uploading this story for the first time and I didn't properly set this story as being multi-chapter. Sorry about that!

This dragon wasn't what she heard about them. It wasn't a hulking beast, big and red. Although she assumed there had to be more than just red dragons. She hoped for variety at least, while she liked red it would be sad if it was the only color they came in. Regardless of its color, the beast wasn't bulky or didn't have any spikes. It was... Lean, for lack of a better word. It was still big, but it wasn't big because of its mass. Her light sparkled as it got reflected by its silver scales and even in her initial surprise, she saw the blue eyes shrink into small slits as the same light hit them. The last thing that Ruby could notice was the large wings. They looked so delicate. Filigree was the only way Ruby could describe them.

Ruby didn't even wait a moment before getting into her combat stance. It was something she did without even thinking, her hand reaching towards her sword. Silver, what did that mean? Was it an ice dragon? Most dragons... Well, every dragon she heard about was always associated with fire. Maybe this was different? Ruby had to take a gamble. In her free hand, she summoned her magic. She felt part of the heat from her body focus in her hand and set her hand ablaze. As with any magical spell, it didn't hurt her of course. Not till she fully controlled the magic. Once it's released? There was no controlling the flame. The beast had to be surprised to see her get ready to fight. Was it expecting to just scare her off? Predators in nature did prefer to avoid fights if they could. Regardless of what it thought, the beast moved back a bit, looking like a cat ready to pounce its prey. Ruby's eyes moved around the cave. Plenty of space to move, for her at least. The dragon would have some issues with its size. Which meant she had an advantage.

"Wait, no!" Suddenly, Ruby relaxed her pose, the magic disappearing from her hand as part of that warmth was sucked back into her body. Her sudden change in demeanor had to confuse the dragon to a bigger degree since it too lowered its guard and glanced her way with a confused gaze. "I didn't come here to fight you! I came to ask you about something."

"Ask me?" The beast responded. Its voice sounded so... Odd. Like a few voices tied together. One part of it sounded very feminine, which made Ruby wonder if that meant this here was a... Uh... Girl dragon? Female dragon! That's the technical term. Female.

"Yes! I came here to ask you for one of your scales!" Ruby announced eagerly. Once more she saw confusion in the blue eyes of the beast before it frowned. At least Ruby assumed it had to be a frown on its face.

"No. Now go back from where you came." The dragon lowered itself into a laying position.

"But I came prepared! I have something to pay for the scale. Please! It's really important." As Ruby began explaining, she started to look through her pockets for the necklace she brought with herself.

"I have no need for your trinkets, golds, or treasures!" The dragon's voice roared inside the cave, which froze Ruby in place. There was something weaved in that voice to make her feel that odd chill creeping down her back. Was it magic? Or was it just how all dragons were?

"B-Bu..." Ruby couldn't even finish saying a word before the beast roared at her once more.

"No! Leave me alone human, I do not wish to do you harm but if you won't leave me alone, I shall eat you." While the dragon's words on itself weren't the most intimidating, there was that... That something behind them that made them more frightening than they should be. But Ruby was stubborn, as she glanced at the beast, she noticed something behind its blue eyes. Something that made her drop the idea of just fighting it for the scale she needed. This feeling annoyed her even further. With a frustrated grunt, she ran from the cave.

oooOOOooo

It was cold. Cold and wet, but Ruby wouldn't care for such inconveniences. If the stupid dragon didn't want her in the cave, fine. She didn't want to annoy it. Convincing it to give her a scale. No, not give, trade it, was a top priority. Besides, there was a plan. Wait out the rain, make some fire and warm up. Pretty simple. It's just waiting out the rain would provide some issues.

As Ruby was trembling from the cold, she cursed everything and everyone. This was an awful idea. The idea to wait it out, the idea to travel here, the idea to become a stupid alchemist. Everything. She could just join the stupid adventurer guild and do stupid things and live off of it just like Yang. Hell, if everything went the same way it did so far, Yang could retire in ten years or something like that. That young! Meanwhile, in ten years, she could MAYBE become an alchemist in some other stupid city. Unless that stupid city would have some other stupid rules. What next? Kill a basilisk? At least that would involve a dangerous, mindless monster, not a stupid, stubborn dragon.

Ruby moved her knees closer to herself as she continued to hug her backpack. It didn't help. The cold, the rain it all wouldn't go away. The trees didn't help, her cloak didn't nor her traveling attire. Nothing was prepared for this kind of outpour. At this point, she just wanted to use the moonstone and go home. Maybe Yang was right. Maybe everyone was right. She knew that people always called it cute behind her back. Cute and stupid, like a dumb puppy. Each and every time, she shrugged it off. If they wanted to joke, who cared. She would show them once she became an alchemist. And yet... And yet they might have been right all along. How sad was her life, to chase a dream like some kid. Like a kid from slums who thought they could become a knight. Not in this life.

As all those negative thoughts circled inside her head, the rain would suddenly stop. No more droplets of water hit her head. Her head or any other part of her body, same went with the already muddy ground around her. Ruby let out a small sigh, was this a sign? Should she not stop? Or the opposite, should she stop. If it was a sign, could it be more clear?

...Wait, something wasn't right. The rain was still there. She could hear it. Was something wrong with her? Was this how Hypothermia felt like? No, that... That couldn't be right, right? She looked up, only to see up close the silver beast from before. It had its wings spread as if a giant parasol, protecting a wide area from the rain. Ruby was speechless to see how large her wings really were. Sure, she knew they had to be big, dragons flew on them, right? But to see them actually spread out like that? It was a sight to behold.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't just gaze up as if I grew two more heads." The beast spoke softly in Ruby's direction.

At that, the redhead frowned, lowering her head once more in a stubborn fashion. "Why do you care? You told me to go away, so I did."

"Perhaps I... I misspoke. I meant that you should go away as soon as the rain would subside. Besides, even then I didn't think you running away would mean you'd just sit under the nearest tree looking miserable like that." The beast let out a sigh. "Although even my generosity knows limits, and while it won't affect my health as it will yours, I do not wish to get too soaked, so if you could join me in that cave, at least till the morning."

"I'm fine, I don't need your help. Yours or anyone else!" The girl barked out at the dragon, who seemed shocked at how insolent the girl was. The surprise element lasted for a moment though and the dragon's expression turned to one of amusement.

"Wouldn't that give you some more time to convince me to... To whatever scheme you had planned? You don't know how long I'll be around." Ruby knew that she was being manipulated. She wasn't a fool. Still, whatever the intent was, the dragon was right. Ruby wasn't sure just how much time she had. It didn't help that not getting soaked even more than she already was, did provide an additional, juicy bonus in this deal.

"Fine." She said and slowly forced herself up. Only now she felt how heavy her clothes and cloak became from all the water. It also reminded her how cold she was, as moving made more of her body feel the cold. The dragon was kind enough to not say anything else, simply lead the girl under its wings inside its cave. Which was better, a little bit. At least rain wasn't pouring on her head without mercy and the cave walls protected her from the chill of the wind. Sadly, she was still soaked and it would be difficult to build any kind of fire right now. Especially since fire magic required you to use your own body heat.

"You're cold." The dragon stated. Ruby rolled her eyes at how observant the dragon was.

"I'll be fine." She kept her teeth from cluttering, as if it would be some kind of competition between them, to not show in how much discomfort she was right now.

"What's your name?" That seemed so out of nowhere, that Ruby needed a moment to comprehend the question.

"R-Ruby. I'm Ruby." She answered, cursing herself for not controlling her voice fully. "What about you?" Trying to cover it up, she followed up with the same question.

"You would never be able to fully comprehend my name, let alone speak it." The beast answered in a prideful manner.

Ruby just shrugged. "That doesn't really help."

With a deep sigh, the dragon gave in. "Weiss. You can use that as a name for me."

"Is that like a nickname or something?" Ruby's mood improved slightly, which made her other traits, like her natural curiosity, to peek out shyly.

"It's a... It's my name, just simplified." The dragon, which Ruby now knew as Weiss, explained.

"That means you're a girl, right?" Ruby asked, not knowing the consequences of what she considered a harmless question.

"What?! How dare you!" The beast turned its way towards Ruby, there was a fire in her? His? Its? Ruby wasn't sure what this outburst meant.

"I-I mean! Dragons, nobody saw a dragon in forever! I didn't mean to insult you." Even if she was stubborn, upset, and annoyed, the sight of an enraged dragon still made her regret whatever it is she did wrong. Which she wasn't even sure what it could be. While her main goal was to acquire a dragon scale, Ruby wouldn't mind returning home. Alive.

The beast eyed her for a moment, before giving a small sigh. "Of course. Yes, I am a... A "girl" as you put it." It was obvious that there was a certain distaste in the "simplified" terms that Weiss was forced to use. Ruby let a small sigh of relief, she won't end up as a dragon meal. At least not for a dumb reason like this. "Now please undress."

"What?" Ruby never felt this type of... Of what? Confusion? She was confused plenty of times but was never hit by such a concentrated mass of confusion. No, she just misheard. It had to be that.

"I asked you to undress." The dragon... No, Weiss, explained calmly once more as she turned her way.

"L-Look, I can tell you already that I'm a girl, alright? So um... No need to check or anything." Ruby smiled sheepishly and took a step back. With humans or even demi-humans as they were referred to, she could sort of understand certain motivations. This? This was unknown. Just why did this... Dragon wants her to undress? Was this a dragon thing?

Weiss simply rolled her eyes as she saw Ruby's behavior at her request. "I wish to dry you up as well as warm you a little. Your clothes might shrink in the process, which might be both painful as well as problematic for you later on."

"O-Oh! Oh, warm me up." Ruby let out a small sigh, reaching up to rub her forehead. This was getting extremely odd. Odd and awkward. "How... I mean, what will you do?"

"Use my flame, what else." Weiss spoke in a matter-of-factly manner

"Eh?! You do know that... We aren't... I mean, humans aren't really flameproof in any way shape, or form, right?" Once more she decided to back off.

"Oh for whatever gods you praise these days." The beast stomped its claw against the rocky surface. "I do not wish you any harm I am also not as ignorant about your kind as your kind is about mine. Now will you cooperate or do you prefer to catch whatever disease you humans contract when exposed to too much cold?"

Ruby shrunk a bit as the Dragon... Well, yelled at her. She felt like she was being scolded, which wasn't the best of feelings. And as sad it was to admit, Ruby wasn't a stranger to this feeling. Of being scolded that is. "It's just... A bit embarrassing." She admitted meekly.

"I am not interested in you in any way, physically included." Weiss stated, but continued after a bit, just as Ruby was about to retort. "Still, simply... turn around and use your cloak to cover your lower self. It won't last long."

It wouldn't be a lie to say that the cold did bite into her skin. Still, it all felt... Surreal, now that she thought about it. Here she was, talking to a dragon, who just... Requested for her to undress. Well, it... It was a different species, right? Also, it was a female. Girl, whatever the proper term was. "F-Fine, but... Could you turn around? I'll tell you when I'm ready."

Weiss seemed to want to say something, but closed her mouth and simply nodded and turned around. Ruby glanced at herself. Would she really do it? Well... Why not, right? As she started to take off her cloak, she was reminded of something. She hid the amulet that she wanted to present to the dragon in one of the pockets she had in the cloak. Some would argue that it wasn't the best place to hide something of this value. These would be people who didn't know her. She adored cloaks and capes of any kind. If there was any kind of clothing that she would care for, it would be this. Besides, it wasn't just that. This specific cloak was special. It was her favorite one, enhanced. Something she was gifted before her first adventure. It was supposed to deflect non-magical weapons like the hardest of armors, while still being light as a normal cloak. Perhaps this enhancement would protect it from whatever this Weiss wanted to do to her.

Now the question was, should she take it out? She didn't want to attract the dragon's greed too soon. She wanted to do it in a controllable fashion. Sure, she just agreed to undress in front of it, but that didn't mean she trusted it ... Completly. Ugh, Ruby shook her head and started to undress. If it wouldn't harm her, she was sure an amulet with a simple durability enhancement would survive whatever treatment was ahead of her.

Taking off her soaked clothes made her feel a bit better, at least initially up till she felt the cold wind against her bare skin. That made her shiver, but with a deep breath Ruby continued to remove her clothes, placing them on the ground. All except one, her cloak, which even now she used to cover herself up. It took her a moment of mentally wrestling with herself to even partially uncover herself. But once more, she simply took a deep breath and went with it. It was already too late for any second-guessing.

Securing the red piece of clothing around her waist, she crossed her arms around her chest and took one last, deep breath before speaking out. "Done."

Ruby heard the dragon move behind her, probably turning her way, what else. "It won't hurt, it'll be just like... Warm wind. There's just one thing you have to remember. Don't open your eyes till I tell you."

"My eyes? Why?" Ruby asked and stopped herself from glancing over her shoulder. She was still too self-aware of her current predicament to even glance at Weiss right now. Even if she was a dragon, she was another sentient being in the room.

"Prolonged exposure to my flame might harm your eyes. Maybe, it happened..." Weiss paused. "It's not important, simply don't open your eyes, do you understand?"

"Yes, yes. Can we get this over with?" Ruby hugged herself and closed her eyes just as she was instructed. She heard the creature behind her take a deep breath and soon it began. It was just as Weiss explained it to be, a wind of warm air. It felt... Well, it felt amazing, how else would it feel after spending a long time in the cold rain. It did feel different from a warm wind. It felt thicker for one. This made her curious, could she see it? But she was warned about opening her eyes. Then again, it was about prolonged exposure, soo... Just a peek wouldn't hurt, right? Right. With that in mind, she slightly raised one of her eyelids. What she saw, made her eyes open wide in an instant. She was surrounded in... How even could she explain it? It looked like a silver flame combined with a mist. It moved past her, disappearing slightly in front of her.

Weiss didn't lie, Ruby could feel her eyes growing dry. Or was this simply because of the warmth? She was curious, how did it look at the source? Would Weiss get mad if she turned around? Just to take a peek. She most likely would, even in the short experience she had with the dragon Ruby learned that she was quite... Sensitive. Still, how many chances would she have in her life to experience something like this? Was there even anything to experience? She wasn't sure. But she sure wanted to learn if she was right or not.

As she made her mind up, Ruby closed her eyes and tilted her head. Counting to five, she slightly raised one of her eyelids. She wasn't sure but did Weiss kept her eyes closed as well? She slowly turned around, not wanting to make too much sound, and raised one of her hands to cover her eyes. She waited for a moment and when no reprimand, no yelling or angry words were sent her way, she decided to slowly open her eyes. Even through the gaps between her fingers, she could see it. An orb in front of Weiss' mouth... Muzzle. Thing. It wasn't important, not right now. Not when she glanced at the odd orb. It looked like it was made from quicksilver and Weiss was blowing at it, which made it send the odd fire her way. This of course couldn't be the truth, no. Weiss was creating this which had the odd fire effect. She saw many mages cast their magic, but nothing like this. There were no gestures, no words, no... Nothing. What was even more frightening was how much magic was contained in that orb. Ruby wasn't a magician, of course, she wasn't as attuned to flows of the aether as people who specialized in magic in any way form, or shape.

Before she knew it, she was staring at it. This, of course, wasn't good. As she felt her eyes get a burning sensation, she gasped. This unleashed the domino effect, as Weiss opened one of her eyes, the icy blue orb glanced her way and what she saw, had to destroy her concentration. Soon, the orb grew slightly, but just that small increase made the fire blow at her with increased intensity.

Ruby's vision was replaced with a bright light. There was a scream, followed up by an explosion which in that small instance Ruby couldn't really allocate in her surrounding. Briefly, after the explosion happened, her consciousness would fade away into blackness.

oooOOOooo

The first thing Ruby felt was a headache. Not just any headache, but a sharp pain in the front of her skull. It's like her brain was trying to escape through her forehead. That meant she couldn't be dead, right? Or did the dead still feel pain? How exactly did being dead work? Ugh, thinking hurt, especially this type of thinking. She heard her own voice let out a grunt and as she heard a gasp, which didn't belong to her, Ruby decided to slowly open her eyes. The light stung her in the eyes like a swarm of bees and she raised a hand to cover her face to save herself from the pain.

"You're awake, thank the creator." The voice was familiar, but her brain was so slow she couldn't really remember. As the light subsided slightly, she was meet with a face leaning over her. The first thing she noticed was a pair of icy blue eyes, they were so sharp and even though the color was connected to a more cold feeling, right now it emanated with warmth, care. With worry. Her skin was pale, but not in a sickly way. No, it was... It was magical, that was the only way Ruby could really comprehend it at the moment. It was simply fitting. Even this person's hair was white. Not gray, white, like fresh snow.

"An angel." She blurted out.

"Excuse me?" The person seemed confused.

"I died, you're an angel, right?" Ruby continued her explanation.

"Your sweet words won't change how angry I am at you for what you did. I told you to not open your eyes!" Memories of what occurred... How long ago? Moments? Hours? Ruby wasn't sure. Yet those memories flooded her brain, which didn't help with her headache. That meant this wasn't an angel, no. This was Weiss, a dragon.

"Ugh, don't... Don't yell. My head feels like I was out drinking with Yang." Ruby glanced around. She was laying, she felt the cold stone underneath her body. Her red cloak covered her body. Right she was... Well, naked underneath it still. Wait, she didn't feel the stone on her head. Actually, her head felt like it was laying on something soft. Glancing to the side she noticed that she was resting on top of Weiss' lap. Wait... "Whoa!" As a realization hit her, Ruby tumbled away from the other dragon girl. Sitting up, she pointed towards Weiss. "You're human!"

"Petty insult." Weiss waved her hand. "Dragons can easily look like any of the lesser races, it helped us in many ways in the past and the present." With a sigh, the girl stood up and patted her lap. "But I'm glad you're fine." Weiss said, only to add after a moment. "You... You are fine, correct?" With a frown, she slowly approached her.

Ruby let a small sigh, grabbing her own head. "I think I am? What happened?"

"I would very much like to ask the same thing." Weiss frowned, this time it was an angry frown. "You acted against my will, but..." This was the moment that the dragon girl's anger softened slightly. "Then your cloak exploded. Well, not it, but something inside of it. You lost consciousness for a bit and here we are." Weiss spread her arms.

It was Ruby's time to frown as her brain slowly gathered all pieces together. Her eyes grew wide as she understood what happened. Her hands darted towards her cloak, looking for the one pocket she had the one, most important item hidden inside it. She felt relieved as she felt the weight of the object. Yet as soon as her fingers touched it, she knew something was wrong. It lost its magic. As she took it out and glanced at it, she had a moment to notice how... Ruined it looked. Moments, because it took this long before it started to fall apart. "No! No, no no no!" Ruby repeated as she tried to capture the individual parts of the amulet. The silver turned to dust, while the gem, the ruby, now dim, shattered like glass. Why? Why did this happen? Did Weiss do this? Was it to punish her for looking? Were dragons this petty?

As all those thoughts and feelings filled her mind, she felt the cloak be wrapped around her shoulder, further around her body. Glancing up, she saw Weiss place the clothing around her. "I'm sorry, it seems like it was something important to you." Weiss kneeled next to Ruby, her pale fingers reaching towards the ruins of the amulet on the ground.

"I don't understand... What happened? Why did it... Why did it just crumble like this?" Ruby glanced at Weiss, her eyes darting between the junk and the dragon girl.

Frowning, Weiss moved her fingers through the silver dust and the crumbled ruby. "I think I know what happened. But first, tell me, can you... Can you see normally?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah I think so." Ruby blinked and as Weiss moved a finger in front of her eyes, she instinctively followed it. Once she understood what the dragon girl was doing she closed her eyes and shook her head. "Why?" She asked, wanting to know why the other girl was so concerned about her eyesight.

"Well, first of all, the reason I told you to keep your eyes closed is that it can make your eyesight worse or even disappear... The other reason is well..." Weiss bit her lower lip and with a small sigh, she waved her hand. In front of them appeared a small portal... No, not portal, it was a mirror, with its edges a blue mist, but the center was a perfectly clean image of herself and Weiss, sitting in the dimly lit cave. She was about to ask what was it that Weiss wanted to show her, but then she noticed. She reached towards her eyes out of reflex. Of course, she didn't touch them, stopping her fingers in front of her eyes.

"What happened? Am I blind?" Ruby felt her body fill with dread at that self-suggestion.

"Your eyes seem to work, you also didn't notice any difference before I said anything." Weiss explained, glancing at their reflection with a thoughtful expression.

"Then why are they white?" Ruby said unable to look away from her own face. Not just face, but her own eyes.

"They aren't, look closely." The dragon girl pointed. "See? They're silver."

Ruby shook her head. "Whatever, why are they like this? You said you knew."

"I said I suspect why that might happened." Weiss once more glanced down at the ruined amulet from before. "I think this trinket shielded you from the potential harm to your eyes."

"Then why did it explode? And why are my eyes... Like this?!" Ruby couldn't help her voice from sounding angry. Angry and annoyed. This had to be the worst day in her life, she would take countless visits at the alchemy guild over today.

"Because it was overloaded. There was too much it tried to counter and... Well, it was destroyed because of it." Weiss glanced to the side as she explained that.

"So I have nothing." Ruby stated simply.

"If it makes you feel any better, it did protect you from losing your sight." It was clear that Weiss tried to cheer her up, but Ruby was too far gone into her little despair corner to really pay attention to anything right now. Especially attempts to cheer her up.

"It doesn't matter. Not anymore." Ruby lowered her gaze as she sat down, wanting nothing more to curl up. Before she could do that, she felt Weiss' arms wrap around her from behind. "Huh?" She glanced behind. All she saw was a sad smile on Weiss' lips.

"I'm sorry." Before Ruby could ask what exactly was she sorry for, the dragon girl waved her hand. The redhead noticing the magical gesture too late before the magic completely overcame her. Considering everything else, it was impossible for her to fight the sudden exhaustion she felt. In a matter of seconds, she fell into slumber.

oooOOOooo

Waking up, Ruby couldn't believe what kind of crazy dream she had. Sure, she had some crazy dreams in the past, but nothing like this. She traveled, meet a dragon, got naked in front of it. Just like any dream, it was odd, impossible, and hopefully not prophetic.

Ruby laid there, letting her body slowly wake up at its own leisure. It wasn't a dream, wasn't it? As she opened her eyes, she was meet with the ceiling of the same cave that she found the dragon inside. Letting out a small sigh she glanced around. She was laying on top of dry grass, which was better than lying on bare stone. Although she already felt the itchiness starting to spread. She was covered with her cloak, which didn't cover her entirely, but at least covered her in a modest way. She could live without having her legs uncovered. After all, no bed meant no monster from under the bed. Hey, she didn't make the rules, she just lived by them.

There was no sight of the dragon, although she did locate her clothing, neatly folded close by and next to her bag. That was something she hoped to see, as she stood up wobbly and approached them, still using her cloak to cover herself. Taking one more glance around and not noticing anyone peeping at her, she quickly dressed up.

Her clothes were dry, they also didn't seem like they shrunk. Sure, they were creased, but they were dry and she wasn't naked anymore. Now she could assess her situation more properly. Weiss wasn't anywhere to be seen. She was hungry, which could easily be taken care of with the travel rations she had. But first, she wanted to take a breath of fresh air. As she approached the entrance of the cave, she could hear the birds singing. She had to cover her eyes as the sun greeted her through the leaves. Judging by the same sun, it had to be somewhere around noon. Seeing all this brightness reminded her of the headache, an echo of that pain still lingering in front of her head. Ruby reached towards her forehead and touched it gently, afraid that the pain might come back at any moment.

Through all this, something caught her attention. There was a... A line in the air. It constantly shifted, bent, and changed its position yet it seemed to float around a specific core to which it always positioned itself appropriately, it also seemed like she saw only part of it, as both ends slowly faded the further away they were. Ruby tested that theory and followed the line a little bit, and as she moved along it, she could see the same length of it at a given time. Now, this was odd enough on its own. But Ruby understood how extremely peculiar this situation was. She knew what these lines were. They were aether threads. They are always present, as they are what allow people to use magic. But to see it? That requires magic. She experienced it once when she learned about all this.

She still felt hungry, but she very well knew that she couldn't eat a bite while this curiosity was afloat. Shaking her head, she began to follow the thread. Was it so powerful that it manifested itself to a naked eye? Or did Weiss cast some spells on her before disappearing? As she wondered about the possibilities, something distracted Ruby from her thoughts. This time it was a sound. A sound she didn't expect to hear this deep inside a forest.

It was singing. She didn't even stop when she heard it or rather noticed it at first. She simply moved towards the source or what she assumed was the source. To no surprise, the thread also went in the same direction. Which was good, if anything Ruby didn't mind having two mysteries solve itself in one place. It saves time. Efficient! She smiled to herself, at least she wasn't completely defeated. Lack of humor is the first step towards misery, something she wanted to avoid no matter what. Always stay positive, always move forward, it was what Yang always repeated and Ruby lived by that rule. At least she tried to.

Feeling at high spirit again, Ruby hastened her steps. Partially because she wanted to solve this mystery and partially because... Well, she still needed to eat something. Luckily the source of the singing was getting closer with each step she took, and soon it took her only one more brush before she could see the source of it all.

What she saw took her breath away. It was Weiss in her human form... Shape, whatever the technical term was. She was very much human, that much was important. She was wearing a white robe, but even that couldn't conceal her lean figure. In a way it reminded Ruby of her natural shape, it was also lean. Like she expected both human and dragon Weiss to be a dancer of sorts. It wouldn't be a lie that she felt as if her senses were bombarded with perfection. Not only her eyes but also her ears, as the song continued. It had to be a song, while Ruby couldn't understand the words, she was sure they had to be words. In what language? That was a mystery. She knew how to distinguish elvish and the tongue of dwarfs, but this? No, this was different. It was beautiful in itself. Like the words were too precious to be able to exist and when combined with the voice of the dragon girl? It almost made Ruby hard to breathe. Quite literally. Noticing that, she shook her head and tried to focus on the surrounding. She noticed the same Aether lines moving through the air and for whatever reason, only now did she notice that Weiss' song weaved those threads all around her body. Knowing how well focusing on the beauty of it all ended just a moment ago, her eyes continued to move around, the girl focused her brain on anything but the sight. They were in front of a river, and oddly enough only after noticing it, did Ruby started hearing the soft hum of the water. Finally, the redhead noticed that she wasn't the only one around. No, there were countless animals, sitting at a safe distance, mesmerized at the spectacle in front of them.

Ruby had to be late or perhaps this song wasn't that long, but it was over before she could really appreciate it. There was complete silence afterward, like an empty space where any sound should be.

"Whoa!" With typical for Ruby luck, at least for the past few days, it was her fault to break that silence, as the brush she was inside finally given up on her weight and she ended up on the grass with an audible thud. As soon as that hypnotic moment was gone, all the animals seemed to run off. Raising her head, Ruby noticed the girl standing there in a stance, a blue glow in her left hand.

"You." Weiss relaxed her stance only slightly, still looking extremely annoyed. "What are you doing here?" The dragon girl squinted her eyes and sent a glare towards her.

"T-There's an explanation, I swear!" Even while looking like a human, a very pretty one at that, Ruby felt intimidated by its cold stare.

"I can't wait to hear it then." The dragon girl nodded

Before giving any kind of explanation, Ruby decided it was better to not lay on the ground awkwardly from her previous fall. While initially, she wanted to stand up, she met the iron gaze of the other girl. While she doubted it was her intent, to keep her in a seated position, the chill behind her blue eyes made her drop the idea of standing up. Instead, she simply sat in front of the other girl.

Raising her hands a bit, Ruby began. "Well, I woke up and I noticed where I was." She explained, showing the surrounding area with her hand. "And... Well, in what state I was." At that, Ruby blushed and glanced to the side, her hand moving towards the back of her head to scratch it. "So I dressed up!" She followed up immediately and with such force that it caught Weiss off guard, the dragon girl jumped very slightly, which Ruby barely noticed as she was already about to continue. "So first thing first." The redhead squinted her eyes and lowered her head. "The first rule of survival." She took a pause, only to once more burst out. "Food!" This time Weiss had to be prepared, although she closed her eyes for a moment and let out some air from her lungs. "But." Ruby continued. "Before that, I wanted to get some fresh air, which I did." The human girl nodded. "So I got out and was met with today." She took an exaggerated deep breath. "When I was done, I spotted the magic threads." Ruby pointed into the air around Weiss, sadly she couldn't see them. Still, it made Weiss glance around her as if she was to notice them. "So I followed it for a bit and after that small bit I heard your singing and... Well, here I was!" As if she was ending some kind of performance, she grinned sheepishly at that, hoping her explanation would satisfy the other girl. And not make her any angrier.

Weiss simply stared at her. There was an improvement, as the girl didn't seem annoyed anymore. No, if anything she seemed... Curious? As she slightly tilted her head and simply stared at her without saying a word. Something that started to be less appreciatable by Ruby. She preferred the annoyance, really. After what seemed like an eternity she simply started to... To laugh. Just like that, as if she heard a joke that Ruby wasn't able to. To see this girl laugh was perhaps the most unique thing she saw today. This did include threads of visible magic and mystical songs. Still, out of all the three states she saw of this dragon girl so far? The annoyance, blank stare, and laughter, this had to be the nicest one. Would pretty be an apt description? Maybe. Why not, she looked the most pretty when laughing. "I'll admit." Weiss said after a moment of laughter. "You're plenty amusing for a human." The girl shook her head. "Still, you mentioned that you... Saw Aether?" Once more Weiss' brow furrowed.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Your... Whatever you were doing just now had to have some powerful magic involved." Ruby nodded.

"Perhaps but... To see Aether threads just like that? Trust me, plenty of people in a large vicinity would see it together with you." Weiss crouched next to her and looked her over. "How are you feeling?"

"I didn't expect you'd care." Ruby couldn't help but comment.

"Huh?!" Weiss seemed shocked at the accusation. "O-Of course I don't care, I am merely curious." The dragon girl stood up and glanced to the side.

"Oh, well." Ruby glanced at her hands as if there was the answer that Weiss sought. "I guess I'm alright?" As if on command, her stomach grumbled. "O-Oh, well except for being a tiny bit hungry." The redhead smiled sheepishly.

With a deep sigh, Weiss once more focused her gaze on Ruby. "Do you have food?"

"Oh, yeah! I came prepared, I should be fine for a few days." Ruby nodded, although the idea of eating nothing but dry rations for these few days wasn't the most appealing yet it was a necessity.

"It's not that far from the closest settlement." Weiss stated.

"I know, but I'm not going back. Not till I convince you." Ruby answered as she was rummaging through her bag.

"The answer won't change, leave before you bring more misfortune onto yourself." The dragon girl warned her.

Ruby simply shrugged. "Maybe, but this is my only chance, and I won't let it slide just because of a few accidents.

"Such a stubborn creature, do as you will." With that, Weiss moved in the direction from which Ruby initially came. The redhead assuming she headed back to the cave. Well, no need to chase after her, she could enjoy this dry picnic all by herself.

oooOOOooo

The day wasn't very productive outside of the morning wonders. Ruby still wasn't sure what exactly happened, mostly with her sight and as the sun slowly lowered itself on the sky, she ended up in the cave again. Weiss didn't comment on it as she expected the dragon to do. Something about having to leave or not being wanted. Instead, she simply remained in her laying position, barely distinguishable from a statue. Since she wasn't sure what to say to the beast, she simply opted to sit somewhere and not be a nuisance. Well, a bigger one than Weiss already thought she was.

This inactivity led her to think. Something she wasn't really feeling like doing. Not right now. Yet without a single thing to distract herself, what else was there to do? With a small sigh, she reached towards a small bag where she Weiss had previously gathered the ruins of her amulet. She was thankful for that, as she would hate to have it be discarded by wind or something else. She was too afraid to pour the content out of the bag, and simply stared into the bag. Was still silver? What exactly happened to the metal once the magic ran out? She knew it was considered a lower quality metal after that. Did that mean it was still silver? Just very flawed? Probably. What about the gem? It seemed to act like glass, that never happened in any books she read about artifact crafting.

"This amulet of yours, what's the significance of it?" For whatever reason, Ruby didn't feel startled by the sudden, deep voice of Weiss.

"It was left for me by my mom." Ruby smiled softly. "She... She went MIA when I was very young. On one of her missions." She closed her eyes. "Yang... My sister that is, she told me that before departing with a group, she gave it to her and told her that it and her, Yang that is, will protect me and that she wanted to entrust that task onto her."

"I apologize, losing someone that you felt close to is always a horrible experience." Ruby chuckled at Weiss' words. Not because they seemed funny, no it just... It felt nice to hear her say that.

"It's fine, I won't lie I don't really remember her. But I always felt close to this trinket." Ruby explained as she laced up the small pouch.

"But you wanted to give it away." Weiss' words... They stung this time. Ruby wasn't sure why, since what she said was the truth. She wanted to trade it for the scale. She did it without much hesitation, too. And yet, hearing someone else say this? It... It as if the reality of her deed was brought to her attention.

"I'll try to get some sleep." Ruby changed the topic in the least subtle way possible. "I still feel tired after what happened yesterday."

While Ruby was gathering the dry grass into a pile again, Weiss leaned towards her. "You know, if you went back to one of your human settlements, I'm sure there would be a proper bed waiting for you. Not to mention some normal food." Maybe Ruby was hopeful, but this felt lighter than the dragon's previous remarks about her leaving. Perhaps it was all in her head, but she liked to believe that Weiss was playing along with the topic change.

"Nice try, but you should know by now I won't give up." Ruby retorted with a grin.

The dragon simply sighed. "Yes, well. You can't blame me for trying." Weiss glanced her way. "It'll be a cold night, you should bring that closer. While we are covered in scales, we aren't cold-blooded."

Ruby blinked at that. "Really?"

"Well, of course, we emanate quite a bit of heat, after all, fire is our element." Weiss explained, with a bit of pride sinking into her voice.

"No, no, not that, I mean... I can sleep closer to you?" Maybe it was the way Ruby looked at the dragon, for her retaliate as she did.

"I-I mean, it's simply because I don't care if you lay unconscious close to me. Of course, once you wake up I'd ask you to respect my personal space." Weiss quickly added, turning her head away.

Ruby smiled at that, still, she didn't want to tease her. She was a dragon after all. "Right, once I'm up you won't know I'm here."

"If only." Weiss said, which Ruby decided to ignore. It was just banter at this point, right? Right.

Ruby glanced at her little hay bed and wondered how she would go about moving it without having to fix it too much afterward. Plenty of math started to happen in her head, as she wanted to find the best solution for her current problem. No, not the best, the perfect solution. As she was brainstorming her hay issue, Weiss had to notice. Moving one of her wings, she gathered the improvised bed and moved it closer. Ruby looked at it, then at Weiss, who simply sent her a bemused glance. "Thanks."

The dragon girl said nothing, simply going back to her statue pose, as Ruby decided to call it. Without anything else to say, she decided to lay down on the hay, using her cape as an improvised cover. It felt odd, all of this. It felt even weirder that in a way she was getting used to this. Or maybe she was going crazy? Maybe even both. As all those thoughts went through her head, she felt something above her. Not wanting to move too much, she glanced with one of her eyes. Hovering above her, close to her body but far enough to not touch her, was one of Weiss' wings. Moments later she understood what the dragon mentioned before. It did indeed radiate with warmth. It didn't feel hot, perhaps because it was just the wing, but it just felt like a nice, comfy blanket. Ruby couldn't help but smile at that. Feeling as cozy as one could while lying on a pile of hay and in a dark cave, Ruby allowed for sleep to take her away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Second, I have to admit to something. I lied. Why? Because I'm an awful person. This won't have 4 chapters, it'll have more. Why? Two reasons. First, this was perhaps half of what I initially wanted to put into the second chapter. It was already quite a bit. Enough to be its own chapter. Second, I understand that people often are skeptical about a story being finished, being stuck in limbo forever. That's why I thought that shorter but quicker chapters would be better. I also got an idea for a few more things I could add to this. Although the main, core "storyline" will go unchanged, it simply might have a few more elements added after the main plot of this is dealt with.
> 
> That didn't mean I cut anything, I simply moved stuff around.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.


	3. Rabbit Hole

Ruby's eyes went wide as she moved up, her hand reaching towards her sword, as she glanced around. There was a sudden hiss. Not just any hiss, but one associated with snakes. Glancing around the cave, she couldn't find anything that even resembled a snake. Well, wasn't a snake. There was one thing that "resembled" a snake, which was Weiss' tail. Still, it was odd to hear such sounds and to see the dragon stand in front of the cave just like that. With a grunt, she got up and after doing a simple stretch she decided to Walk over to the cave entrance where she saw a very odd sight. True, it wouldn't be the oddest thing to experience, but it still could be described as an oddity. Weiss was laying on the ground with her head very low to the grass, in front of her was a rabbit. Immobile rabbit. Just standing there. Or laying. Sitting?

"You're uh... Hypnotizing rabbits?" Why would anyone do that? Ruby wasn't sure, but that was the first thing that came to her mind when she saw this odd scene before her.

"A snake bit it." Weiss retorted with a dry tone. It wasn't hard to notice that it wasn't an indifferent tone, no. It was bitter with a sad or simply disappointed undertone.

"Aw, poor fella. What did the snake look like?" Ruby asked as she approached the bunny. She was walking towards it slowly as if afraid she could scare it off. Although the animal simply sat there. Did it accept its fate?

"Huh? Oh, it was... Green with a pattern on top of it. Dark, it looked like a ribbon. Do you know about it? Is it dangerous?" Weiss asked, her blue eyes moving towards Ruby.

"Nope, no idea, I'm not really an animal expert." Ruby shrugged.

"Then why did you even ask?!" Weiss hissed and Ruby could tell the dragon was extra snappy today.

"Just curious." Ruby shrugged. She didn't know anything about animals, but she had a general idea of what kind of dangers could be around certain areas. Deadly snakes were not part of that list, at least not for this part of the land. "But I know there shouldn't be any creatures here with poison that could kill. At least not a human. Not sure about this small fella." With a sigh, Ruby kneeled in front of it. "We should try and help it."

"Why? That's interfering with nature." Weiss stood up, glancing down at both the human and the rabbit.

"Oh yeah? Then what happened to the snake? Did it just bit it and went away? I heard the hiss you know. It's what woke me up." Ruby glanced up at the dragon.

"I was simply concerned about your well being. Humans are long gone from nature's cycle." Weiss huffed, turning her head away.

Ruby chuckled at that and focused her eyes on the small critter in front of her. "Mmm... I don't think we have enough time anyway. Finding ingredients would take too long on its own, and then I have to prepare it." Ruby mulled it the possibilities in her head. "Then again I could only make the weaker antidote, which... If the poison is deadly it wouldn't help completely. Just slow things down."

"What would you need for a complete antidote then?" Weiss asked, her annoyance gone as she leaned closer to the human girl.

"Hm?" Ruby glanced up at the dragon thoughtfully. "The only antidote I know how to make is made out of a few common ingredients, which makes the weaker version. There's a certain flower, a Gryphon Lilium. Adding its petals to the mix and... Well, doing some things I won't bore you with, makes the stronger variant." Ruby wasn't exactly an expert when it came to chemistry, that was perhaps one of the few alchemy things she paid the least attention to. Still, she knew the basics and could easily work with the common procedures of crafting potions and the like.

"So you could technically cure it?" Weiss raised to a stand.

"Huh? Oh yeah just... I don't think we have the luxury of time." The redhead shrugged. It was a bit of a bummer but... Well, it was just a random bunny. She could live on knowing it died being bitten by some snake.

"Very well, since you insist on aiding this creature, I can help you out. But only this time." Weiss announced in a very... Royal way? Ruby couldn't find a different word to describe it. It sounded condescending but not purposely so.

"I do?" Ruby asked, confused at this weird turn of events.

"Yes, I can put this creature under a spell that will slow the time around it. This should allow you to gather the necessary ingredients." Weiss nodded at her own words.

"But that won't really heal it. Remember what I said? We would need the Gryphon Lilium." Ruby let out a small sigh, if anything she would think a dragon would pay enough attention to get these kinds of details in.

"I know what you said before. You should still try and save it." Weiss squinted her cat-like eyes as she stared at Ruby. "Is the life of any creature not worth fighting for if there are means to save it? Even if the chances are meek." It was a bit off-putting. Partially because of how angry the dragon got, but it also didn't really add up. Ruby could only scratch her head at it, didn't Weiss just scold her for wanting to help, and now she was doing the same for... Not wanting to do it?

"R-Right." Ruby glanced at the bunny. There was another issue. How do you administer a potion to a bunny? At that she frowned, would it drink anything? Right now it seemed as if it gave up on life. "Oh!" She snapped her fingers as an idea came to her mind. "I'll need your help though."

"Mine? Outside of putting the animal under my spell?" Weiss tilted its head.

"Yeah! You'll have to..." Ruby started but immediately stopped. No, who would stay to protect the rabbit? "No, that won't work." She shook her head.

"I'll have to what? At least finish your thought." Weiss nudged her on, trying to cover how curious she was with the usual annoyance.

"We'll have to feed it the medicine somehow. I'm not really an... Expert, so the only way I could know how to get it inside its system is through eating. The issue is that it's not a very tasty treat." Ruby started explaining.

"How am I involved? While I do possess quite the knowledge in comparison to a human, I still know little to nothing about... Bunnies." Weiss stated, glancing down at the small furball.

"I wanted to speed things up and have you look for some fruits, berries, or something. Maybe this way we could make it eat it." Ruby finished her explanation with a small sigh. She wasn't sure how long it would take her to gather all the stuff required for the medicine let alone add foraging for berries on top of that.

"But you realized how unwise it is to ask a dragon to do such a task? I'm impressed." Weiss nodded.

"Well, not really. I just wouldn't want to leave the small guy alone. It has to be protected, especially in his current state." The redhead glanced towards the cave, she would have to empty her bag to make some room for the things she had to collect.

"He will be fine, animals are well aware that this cave was claimed by me. They will know not to anger me by approaching it, even out of curiosity." The dragon squinted its eyes as it moved its head closer to Ruby. "Well, most animals wouldn't be stupid enough. Some still can't get the hint."

Instead of rolling her eyes at the pointless threat, Ruby was delighted to hear that. "That's great! That means we can split up. You look for some fruits, berries preferably! I think he should be alright eating them. Well, if not at least we tried, right? Anyway! I'll head and grab my bag for the herbs. This way we'll be done twice as fast! Oh and remember to cast your spell!" Even if Weiss wanted to say something, interrupt the girl or anything, she was unable as she was assaulted by the barrage of words sent her way, together with the girl already being on the move towards the cave as she finished. Only once she was done, did the silver scaled beast tried to even open her mouth. Yet one glance at the rabbit thing made her change her mind. With a sigh, she turned to face the animal, preparing her spell.

oooOOOooo

Ruby wasn't sure how efficient the spell cast by Weiss was. How much time she had and how much damage the poison would make to the bun. As such, she decided that she had to be as efficient as she could with her foraging. Still, Weiss was a dragon, right? That meant her magic had to be strong. After all her pretty singing alone made magic. Ugh, no, focus. Ruby shook her head at the direction her thoughts started to go. Just in time for a distraction, she found one of the plants she was looking for. Running up to it, she crouched and began the careful process of harvesting the necessary part.

She desperately needed it right now. The distraction, that is. Ruby wasn't one to lie to herself about things. At least not too often. She found Weiss... Interesting. Pretty. Would "attractive" be the right word? With a sigh, she paused and allowed herself to sit on the ground. The issue with all this was that Weiss was a dragon. Sure, her true form, or whatever she would prefer to call it, was magnificent. But it was a different type of beauty. The human form Weiss presented before her? Well, it really did take her breath away. Yet, it wasn't the truth, wasn't it? It was made up. Perfect, because Weiss wanted it to be that way. Which was unfair, of course. Unfair, but what else could she do about it?

It didn't help that the way the dragon acted was... Endearing, to say least. It was like she didn't want to care. Didn't want to or couldn't? Maybe it was illegal for dragons to do that. Who knew how dragon societies operated? If there were any. Still, even if she acted that way, the truth lingered underneath that. The truth was that Weiss did, in fact, care. The biggest example of that being the rabbit thing, which Ruby was happy to learn. After all, for being a creature considered a myth, she cared for the littlest of beings. Who knows, maybe Weiss won't end up eating her up. Maybe. Ruby smiled to herself at that. There were other, smaller things, which just made her like the stubborn dragon. If only she could be a little bit more honest. Or would that take away from her charm?

Which made Ruby wonder, what will happen once... Once what? Once Weiss leaves? Once she gets the scale? Once something happens? For some reason the thought of them parting ways was... Sad. Like meeting someone new somewhere far away from home. She knew it would be a short acquaintance and yet there was this ting of sadness behind the inevitable that would come after this. She chuckled, for a moment there forgetting that the girl she was thinking about was in fact a mythical creature. Still, whatever Weiss was, she learned that there was far more to her than just being a dragon. She liked Weiss and it will be sad to say goodbye.

oooOOOooo

Ruby had to admit to something. In all her years of walking this earth, in all her years of adventures, smaller and bigger. Finally, in all her years of being an alchemist, she never did any kind of fieldwork. As an alchemist, that is. She always came prepared, same with whoever accompanied her, there was never a need for her to improvise or make something on the spot. While some would scratch their heads at the usefulness of such an alchemist, Ruby never really tried nor wanted to be a field alchemist.

Even so, she always had her traveling tools with her. Why? She wasn't sure. Well, in the past that is. It was always a sort of good luck charm. Maybe. Or it just made her feel like a professional. She never thought about it, it was just always there because... Well, one day she would be officially recognized as an alchemist.

With that being said, she tried her best right now, as she slowly worked on the tincture for the small animal. There still was a glowing bubble around the animal, as it was only partially submerged into the current string of time. What did it mean? Ruby wasn't sure, but that was how Weiss explained it, and considering how proud she sounded, Ruby wasn't one to ask and burst that bubble. From what she managed to gather, time simply moved slower for the bun, or rather everything around it was moving at a rapid pace.

"This Gryphon Lillium, how does it look?" Weiss' sudden voice broke Ruby's concentration, as she paused the movement of the pestle and glanced up.

"Huh? Why do you ask?" Ruby asked without even thinking about her response.

"Merely curious, I wonder if I ever paid attention to such flower in the past." Weiss moved her shoulders as if she wanted to shrug, which considering her physique looked odd, would be difficult to tell, but Ruby got the intent behind the movement, which was enough for the redhead.

"Oh, well it's... You know how a lily looks like right?" Ruby asked, and as she noticed the glare the dragon offered, decided to quickly continue. "S-So uh, it's like that in shape. Its petals are red and the closer to the center, the more intense the color gets. Often the petals turn white halfway out and the green parts are very dark, to the point where they are often mistaken for being black in some cases." That was of course translated from the various books on the subject of flora. Ruby was never good with the terminology, although she understood that constantly saying thingy this or thingy that would be a poor mechanism to explain anything.

"I see, it has a very odd name if it truly looks like that. Considering the red and dark, I would think that you humans would call it something ominous." Weiss commented, Ruby could see the dragon's eye peeking at her.

"Well, it had many names in the past, but the current one stuck since this flower is used in the Gryphon mating rituals." Ruby shrugged at that. "Considering it's mostly found in the mountains and how uniquely it looks, they took a liking to it. Now it's hard to come by herb, considering it takes fighting those monsters to gather even a handful of those flowers."

"Is it really that powerful? One of these could change that thing you're making into a much more powerful potion?" As Weiss nudged her on, Ruby couldn't help but feel a little happy. People rarely asked her about her work. Usually, questions tied to her work came from her customers. Even then they were usually the same type of questions. How much, why so expensive, and how quickly, followed up by why would it take so much time. It was one of those funny things for her, as she remembered how she tried to explain herself at first, only to grow more and more annoyed at that sort of question. At some point she decided to up both the price and the time and each and every time when some of those questions arose, she would simply state that if they are in a hurry or in a pinch they can lower the price or make it quicker if they lack the time to wait. The worst part was she didn't do it out of greed or anything, simply because she was tired of the same thing over and over again.

"Yes, one flower is enough. The popularity of this flower is mostly because it's one of the few natural ingredients that can enhance an already existing tincture. There are things you could synthesize that would serve the same purpose, but they create additional side effects. They aren't deadly of course, more... Uhm... More annoyances really, but considering those are used a lot by adventurers, there's not a lot of time to deal with these types of issues when you're out in some dark cave or something."

"I see." Was the only thing that Weiss initially said, but after a moment of silence, she decided to continue. "You seem to know quite a bit about this alchemy thing."

"Heh, yep! I'm... Well, I'm trying to get a license to become one, but I basically worked with everything alchemy related for quite some time now. Ever since I could and even then a little bit before that." Ruby smiled to herself as all the memories of her hardships flew before her eyes, at a speed that, while it left a trail of happiness inside her mind, she couldn't really focus on any of those memories in particular.

"And obtaining my scale will somehow help with this?" At her question, Ruby paused what she was doing.

"Yeah." She answered, her words lacking the same energy her words did just a moment ago.

"I won't act as if alchemists were an unfamiliar cast to me, but I saw plenty of them in my travels, yet I never heard of any of my kin getting shaved off of his scales. Is it a new rule? This scale requirement?" It was sarcasm, Ruby knew it was sarcasm. How many times in her life did she hear that? People joking about her profession of choice.

"It's not." The redhead tried her best to hide her annoyance, the only thing she could really do is to answer quietly and try not to say anything stupid.

"You're upset." It didn't take a dragon to see that, hell, most likely Yang would notice by now. There was more to that statement than just words. Weiss was sad, as she moved her head closer. "Was it something I said?"

At that question, Ruby couldn't help but smile bitterly. Was it something Weiss said? In a way yes it was something she said. It was her words that opened that part of her mind that Ruby kept closed. Closed for her own good and here she was. The human girl glanced down at her work in progress. With a sigh, she set it to the side. Standing up made Weiss back off a bit, as the dragon wanted to make some room for her. Was she concerned? Annoyed? Afraid? Ruby wasn't sure. Regardless she was grateful for some extra space. Even if she preferred to be completely alone right now, that would be difficult. Weiss needed an answer. Ruby would provide her with that.

"It wasn't anything you said." Ruby stated calmly, moving to stand at the cave's entrance. While it would still be sometime before the dusk, the sun was clearly heading towards the edge of the world. There was a time in her life where she was curious about what the sun did when nobody could see it. Admittedly, it was when she was much younger. "I'm upset because of my own stupidity."

There was a long moment of silence after those words. Ruby wasn't sure what to add to that to break it, she just stared at the sky. Weiss was soundless behind her, as if she truly did turn into the statue she resembled each time she simply laid still. Yet they weren't frozen in time like the rabbit was. "You might act irrationally." Weiss started, breaking the silence. "But I doubt a stupid person would be able to learn how to become an alchemist."

Ruby chuckled at that. "You don't know that. All you heard were claims and all you saw was me mushing together some random plants." The redhead shrugged. What came after that shocked her. Not just shocked, but truly terrified. She felt something entwine around her wrist, in the split second before she was pulled, she noticed it was the dragon's tail. As she was forced to turn around and face Weiss, she came face to face with the side of the dragon's head. Her pale blue eye would stare deeply into her. While in itself it wasn't a terrifying sight, there was something... Unnatural. Something unsettling that filled her with dread.

"I can tell when someone's lying. You can mope all you want, but never try to deceive a dragon." Weiss' voice was quiet, cold it felt as if the air around them became chilly. "Especially to insult yourself and take away from your own accomplishments." Ruby could feel the tail leave her arm as the dragon raised its head. "Now explain yourself, why such a claim?"

Ruby let out a small sigh, she still felt her heart racing inside her chest. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... To deceive you. It's just that... Sometimes I just don't believe myself anymore when I tell myself who I am. Or who I try to be." Ruby hugged herself, she still felt the chill from a moment ago. It wasn't physically cold, it was... Different. It felt far worse than the harshest winter she ever experienced.

"Yes, of course. I simply... It's not a nice thing to see others act this way towards themselves." Weiss stated, there was no anger anymore, no annoyance, or anything like that. It was a voice filled with sadness. Was it towards her or something else? Ruby wasn't sure. Perhaps even dragons had their own issues they had to deal with. It would be stupid to think otherwise. "Still, I'm curious and I think it deserves a proper explanation." This wasn't a suggestion or even a request. No, it was a demand. What Ruby noticed about the girl earlier, how she liked to hide her true intent? It wasn't just about being nice. No, there were plenty of things Weiss tried to hide under a mask of indifference. Perhaps it was simply how dragons acted? Perhaps, but without any comparison, she could only deduce that it was something related to Weiss herself.

"There's not much to it." Ruby answered, shrugging. This whole conversation felt so odd right now. Like she wasn't talking about herself anymore. "That thing you did earlier? I think that other people did that to me as well."

"You'll have to be more specific than that. What exactly did I do that you refer to?" Weiss once more leaned in. Out of curiosity? Was it a polite gesture? It was odd that Ruby questioned such random things from Weiss.

"You said that I can't be stupid. Other people thought that too." Ruby clenched her jaw for a long moment, trying to stop herself from expressing her emotions in an overly dramatic fashion. She already knew that Weiss would think less of her after this. "You see, when my big dream bloomed into existence, I focused on it with all my will. To the point that it blindsided me."

"How ominous." Weiss commented and Ruby choose to believe it wasn't in any way sarcastic.

"Well, I trained hard under many masters. Craftsmanship, magic, swordfight, archery, and a few other weird things. You know, all so I would be ready to both create and understand what I was making." Ruby let out a small, dry chuckle. "And you know what? I never noticed how things were back in the place I lived. That from the beginning I was set to fail."

"You're being vague on purpose." This time the dragon stated with a hint of impatience. To Ruby's defense, she wasn't really postponing on getting to the point because she wanted to tease the other girl. No, if anything she was... Embarrassed.

"I guess I am." Ruby let a tired sigh. "It's that... Women cannot join the alchemy guild. At least not the one that was located in my town." She finally explained and before Weiss could say anything, she quickly continued. "I know, right? You would think, why am I still trying? Am I trying to change how the rules are? To prove that I am as good of an alchemist as a man? Perhaps I'm stubborn and that's it?" As if she was telling a good joke, Ruby barked out in a laugh, she felt pity even for herself right now. "No, I'm just stupid. I never noticed that there are only guy alchemists in my city. I never read anything aside from the requirements, which "have to be a guy" was not on that list, it had to be on some other list. I'm not sure. Maybe I just read cliff notes, because this how stupid I am." She felt it. She felt warmth against her face. Her own tears started to trickle as everything she held back deep inside finally unleashed itself. It wasn't supposed to be like that. She was supposed to find a dragon, get a scale, and act as if this never happened. A silly thing of the past, something to joke about. After all, once she acquires the scale, she'll be able to join, to become an alchemist. Who cares if she was dumb and blind, right? It would be a silly thing of the past by then. "And nobody told me, because people thought that I'm smarter than I really am. That I knew, that I was trying to change something, I really don't know." She felt her voice crack as a single sob left her chest. "That's the only thing I can do. Is to blame me, be-because the alternative is assuming that everyone around me was just playing a cruel joke." Those were the last words she could muster. Her throat felt tight, her eyes and cheeks burned and she felt an emptiness inside her chest. It was as if she confessed that everything in her life up to this point was... Well, pointless.

Weiss' reaction wasn't what Ruby expected. At worst she expected the dragon to ridicule her, to joke, or at least be sarcastic. At best? Some wise words or something. Something a dragon would say. No, what came after her small tirade was less verbal. Ruby once more felt herself being spun to face the dragon. She once more was up close with the dragon's head. But this time it was... Different. Weiss gently pushed her head against her, keeping it somehow upright. It felt odd, both physically and this situation as a whole. Ruby wasn't sure what to do, how to react. As such, considering everything, she decided to simply do what she wanted to do, as she embraced the dragon's head. Her scales didn't feel anything as she thought they would. She thought they would be hard, cold, and metallic. But that was far from being the truth. They were warm and oddly soft. They didn't feel like anything she expected a creature covered in scale to feel like.

As Weiss didn't back off from the one-sided hug, Ruby simply tightened her arms slightly, as she wanted to feel another being, she was afraid to be alone. She wanted some form of comfort. Perhaps this reaction confused Weiss and this wasn't what she intended. Perhaps this was exactly what the dragon wanted to accomplish, Ruby wasn't sure. Still, she was glad for it and she wouldn't question it. At least not in the near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! A few things.
> 
> First of all, I'm sorry that this took so long. I actually got... Well, let's say sick. I was either in pain or on a heavy dosage of pain meds which left me... Far from wanting to write. Or rather far from being capable of writing, really. This hit me together with some other events in my life that left me having to deal with them as I was trying to either maintain consciousness or not fall down from pain. All is good now! I'm feeling alright now and the situation was dealt with, at least for the time being! I simply wanted to inform you good people reading this why I haven't updated this sooner. You know, excuses and stuff.
> 
> Second, omg so long and this short?! Not really. Actually, this chapter grew to be extremely long. Even as I wasn't yet done with it, it hit the 10k mark to which I had to wonder how long it'll actually end up being since I still have a few scenes to write. As such I decided that it will be better to split that big thing into two parts. This also means I'll be able to update quicker the next chapter, as it's almost done on itself. So next week you should see the next chapter!


	4. Dragon's gift

"Come on, it's a normal one. Don't be shy, it won't taste bitter." Ruby moved one of the many berries towards the bunny's mouth. It seemed hesitant after the one that was covered in the herbal paste from earlier, his small nose moved as he sniffed the presented food.

"You are aware it can't understand you." Weiss commented dryly, although the level of attention she offered the feeding was way more attentive than the dragon girl wanted to admit to. It was too much to hide it in any way or form, which was a very odd thing to see the dragon act that way. In a nice way, of course.

"Maybe, but it hears the tone of my voice, that's enough. It also helps vent a bit of frustration on my part and remain calmer." Ruby shrugged slightly, as she continued to feed the rabbit. The idea was simple and really the only one they had. Ease the creature into eating fruits and sneak in a few of them being covered in the paste. Which wasn't a very tasty treat on its own. So far it worked, sort of.

"Here I thought you weren't very knowledgeable about animals. I'm going by your own words, you know." Ruby wasn't really moved by Weiss' words, she simply treated it as a time killer, if anything.

"Well, no real knowledge from books or anyone smart, but we did have a dog at one point. I might not be an expert in animals, but I still know a bit about how to behave around animals." Especially considering this rabbit was probably around the same size as Zwei... Well, maybe a bit smaller. Maybe.

"Animals are so bothersome." Weiss let out a small sigh at her own words. This made Ruby wonder if Weiss ever had a pet. Could dragons have pets? What kind of pets? Are there small dragon dogs or dragon cats?

"You seemed to care quite a bit about this one." Regardless if Weiss had a pet, Ruby couldn't ignore the fact how much the dragon helped this small bunny so far.

"I don't, I merely decided to aid you since you seemed to care so much. Nothing more." Ruby rolled her eyes at that, of course forward approach wouldn't get her anything in making Weiss admit to things.

"Mmm... I think it had enough." Ruby's eyes wandered at the pile of berries and moved further to glance at the content of the mortar. She decided to leave some of the herbs, in case she had to make more. Still, there was some leftover. "I can try feeding it again tomorrow. At least it had some food.

"What about yourself? Are you feeling... Better?" As Weiss asked, Ruby could feel her tail move along her back. She assumed it was supposed to be a back rub gesture, and while odd at first, it didn't take long to get used to.

"Yeah, didn't mean to bother you with all that." It took her a moment to force a smile onto her lips, after which she had enough courage to look at the dragon.

Weiss scanned her with her blue slitted eyes, to the point where Ruby was afraid she was actually reading her mind right now. Or worse, looking into her soul. Was that worse? It should be worse. "I see." Was all the dragon said. "Considering the circumstances I might allow you to sleep with the rabbit close to myself. For warmth."

Ruby tilted her head at that, this wouldn't really be the first time she slept closer to the dragon. "I thought you didn't care about it."

"I don't." Weiss answered without even looking at her. Trying to hide her smile, Ruby simply shrugged.

"Thanks." With that, she moved to sit next to the dragon, closer to where her head was, and rest her back against her majestic body.

"That's mighty close to where my face is." Weiss, always vigilant, noticed her intention. Ruby didn't mind but she also wouldn't move.

"I know, makes talking that much easier." Ruby offered her explanation with a grin.

"Is there anything to talk about?" Weiss' dry statement took all of Ruby's social steam.

"I don't know." She admitted shyly. "But if there is, it'll be easier, yeah?" Weiss couldn't argue with that kind of logic, right?

"Perhaps." After that Weiss laid down into her statue pose. Ruby's eyes went down at that, mostly out of disappointment. Once they laid on the small creature on her lap, her hand moved to lazily pet it. "Do you even know why I am so against giving you one of my scales?" Ruby jumped slightly at the sudden question, not expecting to hear the dragon's voice so soon after her going quiet.

"N-Not really. Because it would hurt you?" Ruby offered her wild guess.

Weiss simply sighed. "No. As you know, we're very powerful beings when compared to humans or even dwarfs or elves." The dragon paused at that for a moment, before continuing. "I'm not trying to brag. We were the first and that is a fact."

Ruby wasn't really offended or annoyed, if anything she was simply confused as to how this could explain her inability to part with but a single scale. "Alright? I don't get how that explains the scale thing."

"Even parts of our bodies that are no longer connected to a living dragon possess tremendous power. While on itself it would not bother me, as the lesser races seem quite happy to try and kill each other no matter the power they possess, the danger comes from the fact that an object made out of a dragon part is one of the few things that can potentially harm another dragon." Ruby's mouth formed a small "o" shape it all started to make sense.

"Oh! But I promise I wouldn't try to give that thing out to anyone else, I'd keep it. I just need it as evidence for my skill and dedication." Ruby leaned slightly towards Weiss' head, remembering about the bunny just in time to not let it slide off of her lap.

"You dolt, but what happens when you die of old age? Someone else will take the object you crafted and who knows how they will use it. My perspective reaches far wider than simply one human existence." Weiss shook her head. "That's the reason. I'm not doing it out of spite. In a way I like you. You're an amusing specimen of human. Sadly I cannot risk giving out such power into human hands."

"You know I won't stop trying." Ruby admitted dryly herself. "That's really everything I have right now."

"I understand that and I can't blame you." After those words, Weiss twisted her serpent neck to glance at her. "Will you tell me what filled you with such dedication to become an Alchemist in the first place?"

"Huh? Oh, that's because of my mom" Ruby smiled warmly as she answered.

"Was she an alchemist herself? I thought you said that women are not allowed to become one in your city." The curious gaze of the dragon washed over her.

At that specific question, Ruby couldn't help but grin. "Yeah! She was before she came to the city since she was from a different place."

"So she did have a workshop in the city, correct? Thus becoming a female alchemist with an operating workshop?" Weiss shifted her body slightly, wanting to be more comfortable and still be able to look at Ruby as they talked.

"Mmm... Not really, no." Ruby shook her head. "She was a field alchemist. I'm not sure why, I think she met with my dad, uncle, and Yang's mom and they formed a party within the adventuring guild." Ruby shrugged. "I never really understood why, all I always got were vague, different answers and I'd feel bad to cherry-pick what I think was the truth in those stories." She spread her arms a bit. "Just didn't felt right, so I decided to drop that topic."

Weiss remained quiet for a moment, Ruby wasn't sure why, still her blue eyes were still focused on her, which made her wonder if she was supposed to add something or not. After a moment of silence, Weiss finally broke it with another question. "Is she aware you're trying so hard to follow in her steps?"

Ruby's smile turned bitter at that. "I don't think she does." She chuckled dryly. "I mean I like to believe she does. She's... Well, she's considered missing in action. They never figured out what happened to them. My parents I mean." With a small sigh, she looked at Weiss' face with a small, sad smile. "As far as I know, they might be dead."

Even before Ruby was done with her explanation, the dragon's eyes grew a bit, yet she politely waited for the human girl to finish. "I'm sorry to hear that. That also explains why your amulet held so much value to you. I'm sorry it was destroyed."

At the mention of the amulet, Ruby reached to pat one of her pockets, the one where she hid the remnants of the ruined jewelry. "It's fine, it was my fault, wasn't it? I mean, you did warn me" She smiled sheepishly at that.

Perhaps deciding it wasn't the best time to follow that particular topic, Weiss ignored the last bit. "You mentioned before this Yang person, but I thought you referred to her as your sister, and yet you're saying your mom met her mother?"

"Uh-huh... It's a bit complicated." The redhead rubbed her neck at that.

Weiss squinted and it took a moment before she finally spoke again. "I won't pressure if it's some sort of forbidden knowledge."

Taking a deep breath, Ruby shook her head. "It's not. My dad was first with Yang's mom. That's how Yang was born. Later her mom went missing on a solo mission. Years passed and everyone moved on and..." Ruby scratched her head, wondering what would be the best way to put what she was about to say. "Well, he got together with my mom. When both I and Yang were really young, there was some news about the whereabouts of Yang's mom, so they decided to take the small chance of finding her." Ruby closed her eyes, continuing in a much quieter voice. "They never came back after that."

Ruby could feel a small nudge, glancing to the side she noticed it was Weiss' tail, which was already moving away. As she looked back at the dragon's face, it already had another question ready. "What happened to the both of you then? I assume you were too young to take care of yourself."

Thankful for the distraction before she could sink into some odd melancholy, Ruby decided to simply go on with her story, wanting to get as far away from getting sad over the past as possible. "Yep, you're right. Luckily our weird little family had plenty of friends in different guilds and technically we were raised inside the adventuring guild. Yang later joined it and me? Well, I worked hard to become an alchemist. You know the rest." Ruby yawned, stretching her limbs while trying to keep the sick bun on her lap still.

"I see." The dragon nodded towards her, it seemed very odd, but Ruby assumed it was some kind of a thankful dragon thing. Maybe. Or a bow? Hopefully, this wasn't a bow of any sort. It would be very awkward if it was indeed a bow. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

Offering a grin, Ruby waved one of her hands dismissively. "Eh, it's fine. I opened enough already and it's better than sitting in silence. Not like I'm ashamed of anything I told you. Well, not that much at least."

"Yes, ever since you decided to bother me with your presence, this cave became... Noisier." Ruby rolled her eyes at that. Bumping her head against the dragon's body, hoping it would be taken as a playful thing.

"Yep, you're not sitting in silence all alone, you're welcome!" Seeing as the dragon glanced her way, Ruby grinned at it.

"You're impossible." Weiss commented, returning to her normal position.

"I wish I was." Ruby chuckled and moved her hand to hide her mouth as she yawned. "I think I'll let you have some quiet time and try to get some sleep. Who knows how much energy I'll need for tomorrow. Hopefully, this little guy will start feeling better." She smiled as she glanced at the small sleeping ball of fur on her lap. "So have a good night, Weiss."

"Yes, and you too." After her simple answer, silence filled the cave. Still leaning against the dragon's warm body, it wasn't an issue for Ruby to slowly fell into slumber.

oooOOOooo

Waking up was rough, which meant it was the norm for Ruby. Although a few things could use improvements. For one she felt the chilly air around her. Not to mention her head was resting against a hard and cold surface. This was far from optimal conditions for sleeping over a few more minutes or even hours. With a barely audible sigh, Ruby glanced around. The dragon was nowhere to be seen, which at this point didn't surprise Ruby.

She glanced down only to see the bun being tugged into her cape like it was a blanket. She didn't remember doing it herself, which meant Weiss had to do all of this. Putting her under a wall and making sure the animal wouldn't get cold. Speaking of which, she nudged the rabbit, which reacted as its ears poked from under the cape. That made her smile, as it meant it survived the night. She wasn't sure in what condition, but at least it was alive.

Before her next thought settled in, her eyes caught a glimpse of something, and only after focusing on what it was, did it make a grin appear on her face. "What a guardian angel you got, Lil' buddy. Not an angel, a guardian dragon." Ruby chuckled as she petted the animal. Seems breakfast would have to wait since she had something else to do and hopefully have at least one thing off her mind in terms of worries.

oooOOOooo

Finding Weiss wasn't difficult, even if there was no magical trail that would lead her to the dragon. lt was the same spot from earlier, just next to the river. Was this place special? Or did the dragon girl simply liked it? Maybe it wasn't special per se and simply had such meaning to Weiss herself? Ruby wasn't sure, she also wasn't sure if she should ask. What if Weiss gets mad? Well... No, that wasn't really an issue. Ruby was more afraid it held some sad memories for the other girl. If anything, she wouldn't want the dragon to get sad.

With that possibility in mind, she decided it wouldn't hurt to goof a little. Just in case Weiss did have some sad memories of this place. Worst case scenario she could always just play it off as simply being a human, right? ...That would be a very odd excuse without context, wouldn't it?

"Are you hoping I'll start doing something specific or do you just like that bush you're hiding in?" Weiss called out, which froze Ruby in place. Of course, the dragon girl would know she's here.

"I was..." Ruby began as she left the bush, wondering how to go with that start. "Hoping you'd start singing in a bit. I know you wouldn't do that if you knew I was around." She smiled as she glanced over at Weiss. She was sitting on the ground, with her legs out while still wearing her white robe from before.

"You're an awful liar." Weiss simply stated, not even glancing her way. At that, Ruby got an idea. One of those evil ideas that make one grin like a satisfied imp.

"Speaking of..." She began, getting close enough, she swiftly moved to lay down on the ground, but not completely, as her head rested on Weiss' lap. "I thought you didn't care about the rabbit."

Weiss didn't react to this cheeky behavior with words, she simply sent her a stern glare. "Since I said so, it's pretty clear I didn't."

"I see, I see." Ruby nodded to herself a few times. "I gotta admit it's flattering then, but I'm not sure how it'll work out." She said, not being able to keep a small smirk appear on her lips.

"Are you having a fever? I heard that's what makes Humans speak nonsense. Now either talk in a way I can understand, or don't talk at all." The initial confusion was quickly masked with annoyance, as Weiss continued to glare at her.

"Huh? But it's you who asked me to be your mate." Ruby tried her best to feign shock.

"W-What?! How dare you!" Even with all the actual anger and the faked portion of it, Ruby could clearly see the embarrassment on Weiss' face.

"Ah! You're blushing! I made you blush!" Ruby grinned triumphantly, something that would get frozen on her face once she felt something around her neck. It wasn't really a guessing game about what it was. No, it was a hand... No, not exactly a hand. Not a normal hand, a clawed one, as she felt the sharp... Nails? Claws. Sharp claws gently brush against her skin. "W-Weiss?"

The dragon leaned down to whisper directly into her ear. "You know I can easily eat you, right?" It was the tone of voice that sent a chill down Ruby's spine. Well, perhaps the fact that Weiss actually grasped her throat a bit tighter was something that actually put fear into her heart. As if this was no longer a funny banter and her life was at stake.

"L-Look I-I'm sorry a-alright?" Even if the hand wasn't really tight around her neck, Ruby found it difficult to speak.

Glancing up at Weiss' face she saw the cold, expressionless mask and it was a bit since she couldn't see past it, as if what was presented before her was the actual truth. Yet soon a small smirk appeared on the dragon's lips, a smirk that blossomed into a smile, as the white-haired girl giggled, her hand leaving Ruby's throat. "Did I scare you? Did you think I was about to eat you?" Weiss asked, highly amused at the moment.

Ruby moved away from Weiss and brought her knees up to her chin as she hugged her legs. It wouldn't be the first time she thought she would have... Well, be in real danger. She had to keep herself from the initial shock of what happened. "T-That wasn't funny!"

"Perhaps, but didn't you attempt to toy with my feelings on an equal level?" Weiss mused as she mimicked the same sitting position as Ruby did.

Ruby opened her mouth to retort, but nothing really came to her mind. "Hmpf." Was her only audible response as she turned her head away from Weiss, resting her cheek against the knees.

"Aw, don't get mad. I'm sorry, Ruby." The worst part of it was that she wasn't really mad. Well, not exactly. Sure it wasn't nice to play like that but... In a way Weiss was right, wasn't she? It felt odd to admit to it, she wouldn't really think about the fear of losing life on the same level as... Well, toying with someone's feelings. Romantic feelings, or something. Which technically was? Ugh, why was she overthinking it like this? It was supposed to be a harmless teasing, nothing more! "Come on now, don't hide your face from me." Lost in her thoughts, she wasn't sure how much time passed. Seconds or minutes perhaps? It wasn't even Weiss' voice that brought her back to reality. No, she felt the other girl's hand brush against her hand. Sneaking her fingers under her chin to gently force it up, turning it so that she would see the dragon's girl face. The soft smile on her lips. Her blue eyes.

"It's fine." Ruby could hear her own voice, and as those words were spoken, she could feel the fingers of the other girl gently caress her cheek. She felt her face burn up from the attention she received. It felt like she would melt under the gaze of the other girl. How ironic considering the cold colors her eyes had.

"Of course, after all, we both were simply joking, no?" Weiss' eyes lowered slightly at that.

"O-Of course. Just... Just joking." Ruby had to force herself to speak, as it was hard to say these words. It simply felt wrong. It also felt disappointing, as her words caused the other girl to move her hand away and turn her blue gaze towards the nearby river. "Weiss? What... What are you doing here? Why are you here? What happened?"

Weiss simply remained quiet at her question. Just stared at the flow of the water. For the first time, Ruby wasn't sure how to read Weiss' expression. Then again she hasn't spent a lot of time with this girl while she was... Well, less looking like an actual dragon. There was always a very visible facade she would put up. Overly exaggerated wall of emotions. Simple emotions. This time? Ruby wasn't sure. Deciding that the other girl wouldn't speak about it, she was about to change the topic, when Weiss finally spoke. "How much do you know about us? About dragons."

"O-Oh w-well my knowledge is embarrassing really. I know things from legends really. Legends and tales, about how dragons are greedy yet powerful beasts that hoard treasures." Ruby smiled shyly, not exactly proud of what she knew.

Weiss snorted with laughter, which in itself was funny to witness by Ruby. "Indeed, it is embarrassing to even admit to knowing just that. So do you believe that?"

"Huh? Oh! No, of course not. I mean, you're surely powerful! But I don't think you're greedy. I also haven't seen any hoard." Ruby shrugged.

"We were the first. One of the first, although many of us claim we were the first, which they claim has to be the truth since we were gifted with the gift of time." Weiss once more focused her gaze on the river.

"Gift of time?" Ruby frowned as she tried to understand.

"Yes, we live outside of time. If time was a river, just like this one before us? You and I would be considered dragons, while everything else in existence would live in accordance with the flow of this river." Weiss explained calmly.

"But... Aren't you here? With me? I'm not a dragon, right? I'm still inside the river of time or whatnot." Ruby tilted her head, stretching her legs as she rested her arms behind herself.

"That's true, It's a lousy metaphor. We are unaffected by time, but we can still be part of it. It's a very dry but short way to explain it." It was Weiss' time to shrug.

"I... I see, I think I get it." Ruby nodded. "But that doesn't really explain anything? Why are you here? Or why did dragons leave? Did they leave? I thought they died out or something."

"Because we foresaw that this world, this realm, would perish by the hands of the younger races. We then decide through voting, what to do. To leave this realm and let it perish by the hands of those younger than us, or should we intervene with what the line of time foretold." There was something in Weiss' voice when she explained this. Was it guilt? Sadness? Maybe both, Ruby wasn't sure.

"And you... You decided to leave?" Ruby asked although she was pretty sure of the answer.

"There was a tie in the votes, but my... Family? No, that's not it. My clan was the last to vote. It was the vote of my blood-kin that tipped the scale." Weiss let a small, sad sigh at that.

"W-Wait does that mean the world is ending?" A sudden realization made Ruby's eyes go wide.

"What? No! Calm down." The dragon girl rolled her eyes. "While some might consider our gift a blessing, the fact that we are outside of the stream of time means that we lack the concept of its flow. While we foresaw the end, it would be incomprehensible for us to understand "when" that would happen."

"Oh." Ruby nodded, letting a small breath of relief. "I guess that's fine. So um... Where did you guys go?"

"Do you know how there are different realms? The most... Well, the most known being the realm from which the demons, devils, and Grimm come out from?" Weiss turned her eyes towards the younger girl.

"Well, yes, sort of. I know they exist, that's all." Ruby nodded.

"That's where we hid. Well, not there exactly, but in a similar place. A different realm. Technically speaking it's not very far, since it is simply a half-realm." Weiss followed Ruby in how she sat, as even now she would stretch her legs out, although she still remained leaned forward slightly.

"Half-realm? That I don't really get. I'm not exactly a mage, I just know some magic to help me with things." Ruby admitted sheepishly.

"We moved to a mirror world of this one. To the shadow of this world, to be precise." Weiss shook her head. "Gloomy, cold place. You wouldn't like it."

"Is that why you're here? Because... Well, you didn't like that place?" Ruby's head tilted curiously, would this be it? Such a simple explanation? Still, it would somehow fit, wouldn't it?

"Hah! That would be a very interesting reason to break many agreements and treaties made between our clans." Weiss giggled at that. "No, I..." Her amusement melted quickly after that. "I came to save this world."

Ruby frowned at that and glanced behind herself. Not really wanting to see what's there, she more hoped to see the cave they came from. "By living in a cave?" Was it a joke? Far from it. Ruby simply couldn't understand how being a loner in a cave would save anything.

"It's because I... I haven't really thought about my actions, only after I ended up in this place did the burden of my decission became clear to me." Weiss glanced down.

"Oh! It's fine, I completely understand! I often act without thinking." Ruby grinned at her own words as if it was something to be proud of.

This managed to pierce through the sadness that started to gather around the dragon, as Weiss smiled. "I'm sure you do." She commented without looking in Ruby's way.

With all this, the human girl wasn't sure if Weiss was really alright or not. Wouldn't it be the same thing as for her? To throw yourself at some big task only to learn you're unable to? Or well... You're not sure where to even begin? Regardless, Ruby knew what she had to do. As she turned towards Weiss and moved up on her knees, spreading her arms.

It was perhaps the most awkward few moments that Ruby experienced, as she simply kneeled in such a position, with her arms outstretched to the sides as if she was a living cross. While usually observant about her surrounding, this time Weiss had to be deep in her own mind. Which... Was a good thing, no? It meant Weiss could relax around her. Well, as good as it was, right now this did not help. Wanting to bring the other girl's attention, Ruby cleared her throat. "And... What are you doing now? Is this another stunt of yours?" Weiss commented as she glanced her way.

"W-Well, you're... I mean, after what you said I thought you could... You know, use a hug!" Ruby stated and as there was silence followed by a stare, she decided to follow up on that. "Hugs are good, no?"

"You're such a dolt sometimes." At Weiss' words, Ruby's arm started to slowly move down, as it seemed that a hug wasn't the solution in this case. Or so it seemed as she soon felt being puled closer with a quick grab from the dragon. Before she knew it, Ruby was on the other girl's lap, who embraced her. "But sometimes you... Thank you." Ruby felt her chest tighten at that, as she hugged Weiss back.

How much time passed? Perhaps this was how dragons felt, with all this time thing. Perhaps being so close to the dragon made Ruby experience it herself? Or was she just lost in the moment, like any mortal would in a situation like this? What exactly was this situation though? She was hugging someone. A dragon, but was it really important if she was a dragon? No, not really. It didn't matter what she was. It was Weiss. Why was she so lost in the moment then? Because the hug felt right? Or did it simply feel good? What did it mean that something felt right exactly? Such an odd feeling and one that brews even more convoluted thoughts inside her head.

As such she was glad to hear Weiss sigh softly, to which Ruby took it as a sign that she could pull away. After all, they could always hug again, right? Why not? "See? Told you! Hugs solve everything!"

The dragon girl simply rolled her eyes. "Is it something you made up yourself?"

"Well, no it... Was my sister really." Ruby scratched her neck and smiled goofily.

"That's..." With a heavy sigh, Weiss closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again and assaulting Ruby with a flick to her forehead.

"Ow!" Deciding it was better to drag this moment into something more silly, Ruby collapsed onto the ground, making sure her head landed on Weiss' lap as she covered her forehead in feigned pain.

The dragon girl chuckled at that. "You'll be fine you goof." Weiss said and Ruby felt her hand slowly brush through her hair.

"Will I? I was assaulted by a dragon!" Ruby said as she glanced up at Weiss. The dragon girl glared down at her, but couldn't keep her facade straight as a smile cracked through. This made the redhead grin, as she decided to drop the fake act and simply relax. Weiss' lap was nice and the strokes of her hand were relaxing. The nearby river provided a steady white noise. Before knowing it, her eyes closed and she drifted into a pleasant nap.

oooOOOooo

Ruby opened her eyes slightly only to be greeted by the sun already on its way down. It wasn't evening yet, but the day was clearly heading towards its end by now. It was odd how sleepy she was whenever around the dragon girl. The only times she got like that were the rare moments in her life where she wasn't feeling as well. Emotionally, that is. Was it Weiss' lap? That was a possible explanation, although a bit simple. Not just simple, but primitive as well. It was frustrating, and while Ruby didn't have an answer, there simply had to be a better one.

Deciding there wasn't much point in pretending to sleep, she rolled onto her back and glanced up at Weiss. She wasn't sure if the dragon girl was already looking down at her or did she simply glance at her after she started to move. Their eyes met and the redhead smiled at that. Not sure what to say, Ruby decided to simply reference something from the past. "I'm seeing angels again." She grinned at her own words. She simply wanted to make a joke, but it didn't skip her conscious mind how she started to wonder if it wasn't just that.

For a brief second Ruby could see genuine shock at Weiss' face, which quickly faded and was instead replaced by annoyance, a skill that the dragon had to master with countless years of experience. "Don't be a dolt, as if I cared if you compared me to or even outright saw me as one of the beings you worship."

Ruby let out a sigh as she rolled to the side, away from Weiss. "I guess the looks are where similarities end." It's not that she got offended, far from it. She simply wanted to hide away her smile.

"What is that supposed to mean? You are aware I can still chomp you to bits, no?" There was a growl, and it took everything in Ruby not to giggle at how cute it sounded. Perhaps it was more menacing when Weiss did it in what she considered her true form, but right now? It was so harmless and absurd, that it couldn't be described in any other way but adorable.

It just felt so peaceful to Ruby. It no longer felt like a journey to acquire a scale of a creature that doesn't exist. It no longer felt like something that would change her life forever. Well, a bit maybe. Regardless, it all simply felt like a nice... What? Picnic? Well, more like camping outside just for the hell of it. Simply enjoying nature and... And company of one another. This was such an odd way of thinking about it. Since you usually head out with the person you camp with and not meet them through the camping trip.

Ruby felt Weiss' hand move through her hair once more, but this time she wouldn't allow for sleep to steal these precious moments from her. "Hey, Weiss? Can I ask you something? Something you might get mad over."

"What an odd way to ask for permission. Am I to answer no and die from frustration simply to avoid getting angry at you?" There was a pause in which Ruby wondered if that was really what Weiss would do. Simply ignore or outright refuse to answer it simply to tease the girl for the way she asked about it. "Go ahead, with your question." At that, the human girl let out a small breath of relief, as she wasn't sure where else to take this conversation if her first suspicion would prove to be right.

"Well, the reason why you might get mad is that I might try to compare dragons to humans even, with this question." Ruby let that sink in and when she heard a soft hum from the other girl, she decided it was good to continue. "We... I mean, humans. We tend to talk a lot and yet not mean any of what we say. Maybe not everything, but a lot of things we say, we don't really mean it. Do dragons do that too?"

"More often than I'd like to admit." Weiss' immediate answer was so odd. Ruby thought it would take a moment to process both the question and the answer. Even then, if it would be a quick answer, the redhead thought it would come off as negative with some "but" attached to it. Yet she admitted to it and so quickly.

Ruby bit her lower lip, not sure if she should ask what resurfaced on top of her mind. "Are you talking about... Dragons or yourself?"

"I'm not sure." Weiss' voice was so soft that Ruby couldn't stop herself from turning around enough to glance up at the girl. She met a small smile and... Her eyes, they looked so sad, so lonely. What exactly was behind them? What lurked inside that dragon mind of hers? No, at that very moment Ruby wouldn't be satisfied with just that. Right now she was curious about what was inside the girl's soul. What exactly fueled her to go on.

"Weiss..." Ruby began but was cut off by Weiss.

"Ruby, I decided on something." It sounded so ominous that the redhead felt as if something grabbed her guts from the inside.

"Y-Yes? On what?" What exactly could it be, Ruby wasn't sure. She wasn't even sure what could be so bad to make Ruby feel this way. Well, there was one thing right now that would make her feel awful...

"I decided that I'll gift you one of my scales." It took a moment to process Ruby what was just said. It was so unbelievable, so sudden and so... Amazing.

"Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!" There were many more thank you's in there, as Ruby jumped to hug Weiss with all her might. This was, perhaps, the best thing she could have hoped for.

"H-Hey! Back off! Let go of me!" Weiss struggled to release herself from the clingy human. "Or I'll change my mind! Ugh." With a grunt, she managed to push Ruby away, who was grinning as if her smile was about to form a full circle on her face. Well, perhaps a bit less. A lot less, but it was still quite a big grin.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just... I mean, this will change my life, you can't even believe how happy this makes me." Ruby couldn't control herself as she felt all giddy inside over this news.

Weiss simply brushed her neck. "Right, but there's something you have to do for me."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, was this another quest? Well, she trusted Weiss more than these old men back in the guild. "Of course, anything you want." She nodded eagerly.

"For tonight, I want you to head back to the village nearby. You'll get your scale in the morning, together with everything you'll need for it." Weiss' expression hardened suddenly, turning from the softness that was there just moments ago into a firm, stern yet concerned one.

"For tonight? But..." Ruby began and once more was interrupted by the dragon girl.

"You'll get your scale, I promise. You have my word that when you arrive here tomorrow, you'll gain possession of one of them. My scales, that is." That wasn't really what Ruby had in mind. For whatever reason, the scale became less of an issue right now, yet the way Weiss acted right now made it hard to bring what was really on Ruby's mind. "I just... I need to..." Weiss fumbled with her words, which was so unlike her that it was hard for Ruby to not feel bad for the girl.

"I get it, it's just something intimate to remove a scale for a dragon, right? No problem then! I'll head back and tomorrow you'll give me that scale." And then what? Will they part ways? No, there has to be a better end to all of this, right?

Weiss looked at her... No, it more seemed like she was looking past her, at something far away. After a moment of silence like this, the dragon girl shook her head. "Right, of course. It's hard to talk about these things, especially since it would be hard to explain the intricate details in such a simple way that a human could comprehend what I would be talking about." Weiss finished with a smirk, which while obviously fake, Ruby made herself believe that it was just the typical confidence of the girl showing up again. That everything was alright. That everything would be alright.

oooOOOooo

Ruby was lucky to get to the small village before it was completely dark. Her first steps were to head to the stables to make sure her horse wasn't sold off. Getting close to the building in question, she stumbled upon the same old mercenary that she talked to after arriving in this place for the first time.

"Well if it isn't the alchemy missy from before. We thought you got eaten by wolves or something by now." He offered a cocky grin, which lost some of its charms as Ruby had a better glance at the countless teeth issues the man had.

"I can take care of myself, and it's normal for this type of job to take a few days in the wilderness." Ruby explained politely, she wasn't in the mood to talk, especially not with someone like this man.

"This what I believe, I just came back from the stables to make sure they didn't do much to your horse." The man admitted, to which Ruby tilted her head curiously.

"Thank you, I think. But why exactly did I uh... Earn that kind of attention from you?" Maybe it was because of Yang being overprotective, but the blonde did manage to make Ruby vary in these types of situations, where someone acts too kind. Extremes are bad no matter which direction they take.

"Because as you might have noticed missy, folks here tend to have short-term profit in mind, and I know better than that." The man shook his head. "You can check it yourself if you ain't believe me, but your horse is fine for at least the next few days." With that, without even offering a goodbye, the man moved past her and disappeared behind her. Well, not literally, but Ruby didn't care enough to as much as to glance over her shoulder. This was... An odd conversation, for sure. Shaking her head, she decided that whatever it was, lying about her horse would be pointless, as such she used that as an excuse to just head towards the inn in hopes of catching a warm meal and a bed. Travel rations were acceptable for a while, but while filling they weren't exactly tasty. Same with sleeping on the ground.

oooOOOooo

It took some persistence and using her natural charm to convince the inn owner to heat up some of the leftovers for her since he stated the kitchen was closed for the day. Still, she managed to be persuasive enough to get some actual food inside of her and a room for the night. Even if she was tired, full, and physically content, aside from exhaustion that is, she knew that sleep wouldn't come to her easily.

Too much was on her mind. Ever since she parted with Weiss, her mind was going crazy, to the point she had to force herself to focus on the simplest of tasks before her. Like the road from the cave to the village in hopes to get back as fast as possible the next day. Every next step she took in the village and even when she was eating, she forced herself to focus on every bite, every move of her jaw, every piece of food that went down her throat. And as she sat on the bed, she knew that there was nothing she could do right now to fight her own mind.

She felt sick, not because of the food, at least she hoped it wasn't the case. Or maybe that would be better? That was something she could fight off easier than what was the true reason behind her illness. The reason being Weiss or rather lack of having her around. Was this normal when someone met a dragon? Perhaps, she wasn't sure. It wasn't part of the dragon legends, to grow attached. It wasn't just about having to part ways with Weiss for a night, no, it was the question "What after" that ate Ruby from inside. Would they part ways? Would Weiss request to be left alone? After all Ruby couldn't live in a cave, she had to get home at some point.

Maybe... No, that was ridiculous. But maybe she could ask Weiss to come with her. Why not? It was better than living in a cave, right? It wouldn't hurt to ask, at least. Perhaps convince her. Maybe if she says no, Ruby could stay an extra few days and the dragon girl would change her mind, just like with the scale!

This made her smile, that was the plan. Convince Weiss to come with her. What for? She wasn't sure, but it would be better for her to live normally... Well, at least by human standards, then to live in a cave. And it just so happened to come with the extra benefit of not having to part ways with Weiss, at least not yet. Her smile grew into a grin. While she wouldn't be able to sleep regardless, this time it was for a better reason. This time it wasn't because she felt anxious, no. She felt excited about the perspective ahead of her. This was the turning point in her life.

oooOOOooo

"Weiss! I'm back! Weiss?" It wouldn't be a lie that Ruby ran all the way to the cave from the village, at least as soon as she thought she was far enough from the village to not make it seem as if she was doing something suspicious. Glancing around the cave, it was an easy guess that Weiss wasn't around. It's hard for a dragon with silver scales to hide in a cave this shallow. Perhaps if she was in her human form, but even then Ruby didn't find any traces of her. No, what she found was something else. Laying in the backmost part of the cave, was a single piece of a silver scale. Seeing it, Ruby could feel her jaw clenching as she wasn't sure how to react to this sight. For one, it felt amazing, here was her ticket to becoming an alchemist. Yet there was part of her that thought of this as... As sacrilege? Perhaps it wasn't as bad, but it simply felt wrong. Yet the scale wasn't alone. Next to it was a blue flame. Yes, a blue flame, floating inside a small, secured glass jar. Ruby could only guess where Weiss found a glass jar, but that would be the least important of mysteries in regards to this discovery. Was this what Weiss meant when she mentioned means to work with the scale? Would a normal flame not work? Well, now that Ruby had a moment to think this over, it was only logical that a dragon flame would be required to work with a scale from a dragon.

More importantly, where was Weiss? Was she at the spot by the river? Well, where else? The girl seemed to rotate between those two places. Packing the scale and finding a way to secure the jar tightly to her backpack, while hiding its content, Ruby began her quickly-paced walk towards the river spot. Even before she was done moving through the brushes, she began to call out. "Hey, Weiss! I'm back, I found the scale and..." As soon as she was done moving through the shrubbery, she noticed the spot was empty. She even glanced towards the river, thinking that maybe the girl was taking a dip in the water, but nothing like that was going on.

Did Weiss... No, that wasn't possible. Of course, she didn't. She went on to have a little wing stretch or whatever it is a dragon would do. She mentioned it before when they had the little bunny creature with them, right? Perhaps it wasn't all a cover-up story, perhaps Weiss did in fact went out to have a little fly around and she simply picked a route in where she could find the flower.

She decided to run back to the cave since she assumed that's where Weiss would head first after getting back from her "walk". Once more almost running to the spot, she was met with an empty cave. Perhaps it was just part of parting with a scale? What else? She would come by at one point. She had to sleep... Right, dragons didn't sleep. The rest was a better word.

For the rest of the day, her steps took her from the cave to the river spot, back and forth. With each venture, her will to believe that Weiss was coming back would slowly weaken. Finally, as the sun was dawning painting the forest in orange, she had no other choice but to admit to the truth before her.

Weiss was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tend to whine a lot in these, but not today. At least I hope
> 
> Today or well with this chapter I wanted to ask a question and because I like to ramble, it will have a rambling part attached to it.
> 
> So ever since I started I tried to have a minimum word count for my stories and chapters, something that I pushed a bit from time to time. This chapter... Well, the two parts that were originally one chapter, made me think. Do people prefer shorter chapters? Of course, by shorter I mean around 5-7k, or would making this and the last chapter a bigger one be better? I know people have preferences, so I guess if anyone is willing to answer this, I would kindly ask to give me a reason as to why one or the other way would be better. I'm just curious if I should push for longer chapters or maybe be content with shorter pieces.
> 
> And while we're at it, in earlier chapters I said that I might have a bit more planned for this than I originally wanted to, which is still true. But I thought it would be fair if I dedicated a "Separate" story for it, a sequel if you will. Well, more like a follow-up story really. So I plan to release one more chapter to this one (Unless I end up making it too long and decide to cut it up) and maybe an epilogue. Regardless after this, there will be a bit more stuff planned for Derpgon Weiss and her hooman Ruby.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this update! And I'll see you next chapter!


	5. The Hero

It was something that Ruby never experienced. Working with this mystical blue flame, perhaps part of it all was her newly acquired silver eyes that allowed her to see magic. No, not really magic. This specific magic. Was it specifically related to the blue flame or to the dragon race as a whole? Ruby wasn't sure and she doubted she would learn that soon if at all. It was mostly the flame that was odd to work with, the scale itself, while hardy, acted like any other material she worked with in the past. It was simply more... Difficult.

Although this entire project was very unique. Because she saw the aether lines, she could weave them one by one. It felt like making a... A sweater made out of magic. Although even that wasn't really capturing the true nature of what she was doing here. Typically, there were certain steps required to acquire certain effects and even then the process was slow, mostly because every piece had to be added carefully to not ruin the entire thing. This? No book nor mentor taught her this. She had to improvise and it was... Fascinating, really.

Not just because of the process, but the sole nature of the flame. It wasn't just a magical fire, it seemed... Almost sentient. Whenever she reached out to do anything, she felt the overwhelming power it had and while it would probably take an archmage to control something like this, she had no issues using it to shape the object she worked on. No, using it was a horrible word to use in this case. She wasn't using the flame, no, the flame was helping her. It was cooperating with her. Perhaps it was her imagination but she could swear that at some point it was even guiding her through the initial process till she got the grasp of how to do this... Whatever she was even doing. This odd process.

"Ruby!" Suddenly, her concentration broke, and the item she was working at would almost drop to the ground, if not for her diving forward to catch it. "Hey, careful! That seems like it could cut you in half if you as much as fall on top of it!" Glancing up, Ruby saw her sister, Yang, rushing to help her get up. "You alright? You know, considering how much work you put into that thing, I don't think it would break from dropping onto the ground."

"Yang, I told you to not just sneak up on me like that when I work." Ruby grumped, getting up with the help of the blonde, still clutching the object to her chest in a protective manner.

"Sneak up?! Sis, I almost broke the front door from knocking so much! I had to go around to find the spare key you keep hidden, and even then it took me a few yells to even get your attention." Yang placed one of her hands on her hip as the other went for her forehead.

"I... Well... I was focused on my work. I'm sorry." Ruby blurted out, her eyes moving down. It was mostly to avoid the glares her sister sent her.

"Rubes, you worked on this thing for a year, I think it's ready." Yang let out a tired sigh. "I just want my sister back, you know? I have no idea what happened to you but ever since you came back you... You became like this." So it was a year huh? Ruby wasn't sure if it felt shorter or much longer than that.

"I am your sister, what are you talking about?" Ruby grimaced at her sister's word.

"Spare me this bull, all you're doing ever since coming back is sleep, eat and work. You're saying this is how you always acted?" Ruby couldn't deny that it was the new norm for her. She still took in new requests, but less than before. Enough to keep things floating and only because she knew she needed her workshop to work on her masterpiece.

"Excuse me for working hard so I could accomplish something and reach out for my dream! I thought you, of all people, would support me in this!" Yet, as the frustration on the inability to deny her words grew, her temper would turn into fire. Perhaps one to match her sister's.

"To work on what? This thing is ready! Besides, I don't even think those old farts remember they sent you on any kind of mission! Do you intend to work on this thing till the end of your life?!" Yang answered angrily, her own flame burning bright as her own frustration grew at this whole situation.

"It's done when I say it's done." The redhead squinted her eyes as she announced coldly.

Yang glanced at her as if she was just slapped in the face, her eyes glancing to the side soon after. "Of course... I just... I wish I knew what kind of power bewitched you." The blonde said in a sad tone of voice. Funnily enough, Yang actually did try finding that out, as her sister dragged her to see various mages to try and detect if there was any kind of curse attached to her odd behavior, to her silver eyes. Anything, but there was nothing. Even without finding anything, Yang paid for people to perform healing magic on her mind, soul, and even body. Nothing worked, and it left them repeating the same routine every day over and over again, with Yang bringing her food, them arguing and parting, till the next day arrived. "Or at least know what happened when you were away." The blonde added after a moment.

"Nothing happened." Ruby repeated the same thing she always did. She kept her mouth closed about what happened, at first she wasn't sure why, but later she rationalized it would make her seem crazy and it would only potentially risk some kind of harm to Weiss. To know that somewhere out there was an actual dragon. In a way? In a way, it felt special to be the only one to know that there's an actual dragon out there. That Weiss was out there.

"Right." Yang waved her head, already defeated with the idea to try and bring Ruby back to her senses. "I brought you food, so once you're done with that weapon, find at least a moment to eat something." At the mention of the object, Ruby glanced down at it. It was a sword, smooth, lean, and sharp. Espada ropera or as some would prefer a much simpler name, rapier. To no surprise, it was silver in color, with the pommel, not as extravagant as most people using such weapons would wish for. That part of the sword was also decorated with small sapphires, something that Ruby had to borrow money from Yang, which surprised the blonde, considering she never wanted to accept any money from her sister yet here she was asking for it this time. The handle was dark red and while the gems were present, Ruby tried to keep it as simple as possible. She wasn't trying to fool herself, she knew that she based the physical appearance of the weapon after the dragon's body that she met that faithful day.

"Right, I will. Don't worry about it." Ruby turned around to place the sword on the pedestal she used to keep the weapon whenever she worked with it.

"You know, however horrifying it is, you not eating became the least of my concerns when it comes to you, Rubes." The redhead ignored her sister's words. At least till the latter part. "There was a rumor I was thinking of sharing with you but..." There it was, Yang didn't sound any different than usual, yet something in that caught Ruby's attention.

"Don't bring things up and then not tell. What's this rumor?" Ruby started and then got an idea of how she could squeeze it out of her sister. "Wait, is it about me?"

"Huh? No, of course not. People are concerned about you, but I wouldn't let them gossip about you like that." Yang explained with a frown, letting out a sigh afterward. "It's about the village you visited a year ago."

Ruby quickly turned around, covering it up with her reaching towards the sword as if she wanted to fix its position on the pedestal. The reality was different. Hearing about that place brought memories. Even if she relived them every night, having them so suddenly rush to her mind in the middle of a day. "What's so worth bringing up about that place? Don't they regularly come up with some dragon stuff?"

"Well, that's the point. Shortly after you came back it went all quiet over there." There was a short pause before Yang continued. "And now they claim they captured a live dragon."

In that short moment, Ruby felt her legs turn into jelly, her entire body growing weak as she collapsed under the weight of her own body. As she tried to grab the pedestal to keep herself up, it only served to slow down her fall. "Ruby!" Yang yelled after her, and as soon as the redhead's vision focused again, she saw her sister kneeling above her. "Ruby! You alright?! What happened?"

"I..." What should she do? Tell the truth? No, that... That wasn't the case. She couldn't. Yang wouldn't let her go alone, not this time. Not in this state even. "I think you're right." She mumbled.

"Huh? Right about what? Don't talk nonsense out of nowhere." Yang frowned as she looked her younger sister over.

"I'm working too much. I think I need a rest. Maybe even a few days." Ruby let a small sigh. "I missed what you said earlier, about that village thing. I started to blackout before you could say it."

"Who cares about that, Ruby, we need to get you to bed. Gossipping can wait for when you're feeling better. Come on, let's get you upstairs." Without even waiting for her approval, the blonde picked her sister up in bridal style, moving towards the stairs, up which was Ruby's bedroom. The younger of the two didn't complain or say anything. The sooner Yang leaves, the sooner could she start planning.

"Thanks Yang." She didn't say that without a pang of guilt in the back of her head. She didn't like the idea of lying... No, not just lying but deceiving her own sister like this but the truth... Well, it just couldn't be revealed. At least not now, perhaps in the future, but right now? She had to make sure. She just had to make sure everything would work out.

"Told you, sis, this wasn't healthy and now it caught up with you." The blonde muttered as she gently pushed the door with her leg.

"Can you spare me this, at least till I feel better?" Ruby asked, she didn't really feel bad over being admonished like this since this wasn't the truth. She just had to make sure that she played her part for now.

"Right, of course." Yang said, finally placing her sister on top of the bed. "You... Uh, you need help with changing at such?"

"Yang! Of course not. I'll be fine, I just need some rest." Ruby rolled her eyes, as she got more comfortable on the bed.

"Right, I brought you food like always, want me to bring it up here?" The older girl asked, already moving towards the door.

"Yaaang! Stop, just... Leave it in the usual spot. Really, I promise I'll take a few days off from work. I just need some rest." Ruby said in a soft tone of voice, trying to ease her sister.

"Right, but if I come by later and see you work I swear I'll tie you to that bed!" The blonde raised her finger in a threatening manner.

Ruby once more could only roll her eyes. "Right, of course."

"In that case I... I guess I'll leave you to rest. Bye, sis." Yang moved back, slowly, in case there was something brought up by Ruby that she needed. Without anything like that happening, she ended up at the door, this time for real.

"Thanks for being there for me, Yang." The redhead smiled, to which Yang smiled back.

"Always, Rubes." With that being their last goodbye, at least for now, Yang closed the door behind her.

As she was left alone, Ruby stared at the ceiling. At first, her excuse to just lay there was her wanting to wait out Yang, to make sure the blonde left her house and that she wouldn't suddenly rush back in for whatever reason. As more minutes passed, that excuse became less viable for the redhead.

Truth be told, she wasn't sure what to do now. Was it even the truth? Did they really capture a dragon? How could a bunch of farmers capture a beast like that? Still, just like a year ago, she wanted to believe that. But at the same time? She didn't. The idea that Weiss was captured made her feel ill. It was an odd thing, as neither her heart nor her mind was sure which of those two possibilities to choose.

She slowly rose and stood up from the bed. There still was that weakness from before, but she couldn't lay around. Rumors usually hit the adventurers guild and spread from that point on. Even if they were close to the village, news of a dragon would quickly spread and not just inside her town. No, she couldn't risk that.

Leaving her bedroom behind, she turned her next steps towards her workshop. Here she spotted the sword, laying on the ground still. Moving closer to pick it up, brought her attention to the blue flame that was sitting in the corner, in her mystic forge. Her eyes slowly moved between it and the weapon in her hand. Yang was right, this thing was long done, but there was a reason why Ruby worked on it every day. She felt empty. Well, that wasn't exactly the reason why she worked on it every day, but it was related to it. Ever since she came back, she felt an emptiness inside of her. Not a cold one, but a burning one. Or maybe it was both cold and burnt at the same time? Regardless, it hurt. It hurt a lot. This is where the flame came into the picture. Whenever she worked with the blue flame, that void inside of her was... Well, not completely filled, but partially. It brought relief, enough that she could forget about it, even if for an hour or two. While some could argue that it made her reopen the same wound over and over, Ruby didn't mind. In a way, she was afraid that one day this feeling could go away, however painful it was. She was afraid of forgetting.

Nodding to herself, Ruby decided. Worrying over her means of transportation could wait, she had to prepare for the journey and the eventual prison break.

oooOOOooo

Her backpack ready, filled to the brim with whatever she could find around her home that could be used on the journey. She had her weapon ready and a few potions, usually used for all kinds of emergencies. Her traveling kit with her and of course the sword made out of the silver scale, resting safely inside a solid, wooden box. While the container itself seemed mundane, it was a practical choice, as Ruby ensured the inside would keep the sword safe, even if, by Weiss' words the sword would not be easily destroyed. Ruby wouldn't take any chances.

Now the question was, how exactly would she get to the village? Time was a very big factor in this. She could somehow sneak out of the town and get a horse, the issue with that was that Yang would start a chase after her and even if she didn't catch up on the road, she would at the village. Besides, it took her days to get there the last time. Even if she takes a minimal amount of breaks, it would take away a day or two at best.

Mages guild? Teleportation was an option, but they offered services from one guild to the other, and their town was already the closest to the village. Asking around for some quicker alternatives would not only raise suspicion and again, but her sister was also a big factor in this. She really wanted to avoid having to confront her about this.

"Damn it!" Ruby yelled as she slammed her open palm against the wooden table she was seated at. She was out of options, there were no other ways of transportation that she could use without being suspicious, and even then she wasn't sure what kind of suspicious traveling methods were there. Suddenly her eyes opened wide as a realization hit in.

"The moonstone!" Ruby rushed upstairs, almost falling down the stairs in the process, as she quickly wanted to try and find the gem she had in mind. Admittedly, while she wasn't a messy person, she rarely had any kind of order as to where she kept her things. Unless she used it often, like her tools, for example, there was little memory as to where she put her things.

Looking through every drawer, every box, pouch, and even pockets of the clothes she owned. Nothing. Did she really lose something like that? Regardless of the circumstances, she lost a moonstone. If anything this just proved Yang's words. She was becoming a mess. Maybe she should just forget? It's not like anything good came from it. Her eyes turned weird, her mother's amulet got ruined and... Of course! The secret stash she used to keep the amulet in. A mess? No, this just proved that she was horrible to think under pressure. Dragon pressure, that is!

With a grin, she rushed back into her workshop and towards the wall that held the secret compartment. One-click and one illusion dispelled later, Ruby was holding the object she was searching for the past half an hour. The moonstone. She examined it with her eyes, it wasn't often she saw those. It was small and milky white. A perfect sphere in shape. While she got excited about finding the object, once it was in her palms, she felt the doubt creep up again.

Ever since she came back, things changed. Not just for her, but for Yang as well. It was all her fault, no one else. It's not that she wanted things to be this way. No, they just... Became like this. She tried to act normal at first, but it just felt like such a burden to do so. It felt tiring and she took slow steps towards abandoning the pretense that nothing changed. She had to accept that after meeting the dragon, something did change in her. Not just the eyes, but... Something else. After that? It was a struggle. The worst thing was that she was aware that Yang was upset with how things were after she came back. While it was normal for things to change, it was never good if the change was bad.

Right now she was about to do the same thing. She would upset Yang, no, not just upset her. Worry her beyond belief. All for a dragon she met and knew for a few days. What was the end goal? For her to disappear again? Leave her in a deeper state of... Of whatever she felt right now? Emptiness.

Sitting down on a nearby chair, Ruby glanced at the wall in front of her. No, this... This wasn't the truth. It wasn't Weiss' fault that things were like this, that it turned out to be like this for her. She could blame her for leaving so abruptly and without even saying goodbye, but... Well, Weiss was a dragon. She had her reasons, right?

There was also another, more important reason to go. Yang mentioned that they captured a dragon. That meant she had to go to rescue her, even if she wasn't sure if that rumor was true or not, she had to check it out and if it does turn out to be the truth, help a friend in need. Well, she did consider Weiss a friend, not sure if the dragon would even remember her.

This once more put fire into her movement, as she got up and took the backpack she prepared for herself. While Yang might be upset and angry, it was her that always said that you always should help friends in need and never abandon them in time of need. So technically it was Yang's fault. Well, not that Ruby could blame anyone for making her think this way.

Clearing her mind, she raised her hand that held the enchanted gem, filling it with her magic, she felt it respond. Soon, before her, opened a pale blue entrance made out of light. It was the size of an average door. She couldn't wait any longer, as the mystical doorway would not last for long. Taking a step forward, she felt the odd, tingly sensation as she went through the portal. No less than a second later, she was standing within stone ruins within which stood a long obelisk. The doorway closed behind her and disappeared, she also felt the gem inside her hand turn into dust, that she released from her grasp, letting it gently float to the ground.

Fixing the straps of her bag, she began to march forward. She still had some distance to kill before she would get to the village.

oooOOOooo

As much as Ruby wanted to run, she repeated to herself constantly how she had to pace herself. If they did in fact capture Weiss, that meant they had to have some kind of powerful trick up their sleeve and as such she had to be ready for a fight or at least to be able to run and regroup if she got into trouble.

Soon her patience and self-control were rewarded as she saw the outskirts of the village. Yet as she got closer, she started to notice something odd. There wasn't anyone around. It was the middle of the day. Even last time, when she was late, there were at least some people here.

Looking around, just like last time, her eyes first laid on the large barn-like building. Was this where Weiss was kept? Was it the original purpose of this giant structure? She never saw barns this big. What else would they store inside, if not a dragon, right? Still, how would they keep a dragon inside something made out of wood, hay, and some metal?

She paused her steps and looked around. Should she call out for someone? Check if there were people around? Did something happen? Perhaps they ran away after Weiss freed herself. No, that wasn't the case. It couldn't. The barn-prison was intact. Perhaps they didn't really capture a dragon and this was some kind of elaborate trap? Still, trap for who? People like her? Curious adventurers? If so, wouldn't they attack her now if that was the case?

It was too late to question that, too late to back off. Besides, she already made up her mind. Taking a deep breath, she began approaching the giant barn structure. Just like in any of the other barns she witnessed, there was a pair of giant wooden doors. This was it, the moment of truth. If there was something behind those doors, it would be a point of no return for her. She could still stumble upon emptiness which would keep her in this status quo. She could also go back. Traveling on foot would be annoying... Something she'll have to do regardless of the outcome other than dying, but... Well, she can still not do it. Go back, try to forget, move on with her life.

"I'm sorry, Yang." Ruby muttered under her breath and pushed the doors. It took actual effort to set them in motion, but once they budged, they were easily pushed forward. They parted enough for her to be able to step inside. As the sunlight shyly peeked inside, it revealed a sight that Ruby wasn't expecting to see. On the other side of the huge barn was the creature... No, the girl that occupied her mind for the last year. In her draconic shape, she was sitting with a thick metal collar around her neck, to which an even more absurdly thick chain was connected. Even at a simple glance, Ruby knew there had to be more to this than just the thickness of the metal that kept Weiss in such position. Regardless of the dragon, the second part was what Ruby didn't expect to see. A large group of people in robes and hoods that covered their faces.

As she entered the barn, all heads turned her way. If there was any murmur among them, it all quieted down. The mass collectively backed up a step, but none of them said anything. Weiss seemed shocked to see her, but their eyes met only for a split second, after which the dragon moved her head to look to the side. Ruby could only assume the dragon felt shame to be seen like this. If she learned anything about the dragon girl, is that she was a very proud person.

The door behind her started to close, as they had no more pressure keeping them open, they had to be made in such a way to close when not being held. Magic or not, as she still wasn't sure why a dragon couldn't just tear the chain and destroy this wooden structure. Ruby shook her head at that, there was no point in having those distracting thoughts. She reached for her sword, as she knew there would be blood today. She just wasn't sure if it would be hers.

"Release her!" She yelled out to the crowd. "You have no right to keep her, this dragon, chained like that!" After hearing her request, the crowd began to whisper between themselves. She expected to hear a response from one of them but there was none. At least not directed at her. She felt anger start to gather up inside her. "Answer me!" She demanded, yelling out at the mass of people. The whispers stopped, but not because of her demands. The crowd parted, making space for someone to move through.

"If it isn't the alchemy missy." The mercenary from before. Did he have a name? Did he introduce himself? Ruby didn't remember. He was the only one not wearing any robes or hood. Was he the leader of this? Or perhaps he wasn't part of whatever group they were. He wore rugged-looking chainmail and had a handaxe in his grip. That much, aside from his ruined clothes, were on him that she would need to worry about in case of a fight. "Came back to see the dragon again?"

Again? Did he know? No, that didn't matter. "Why did you capture her?"

"Her?" The man asked mockingly as he turned around to glance at the captured dragon. "It's an "it" missy. Monsters aren't people."

"She's not a monster! She didn't do anything wrong, I swear! So please, release her." She knew she lost control over her voice. Desperation sunk into it, as she felt her hand grasp her sword tighter.

"Afraid these good folks here have a different plan, and for all, I could care that's a fitting fate for a monster like that." The man shrugged, seeming unmoved by her words.

"I'm warning you! I don't want for this to end in bloodshed, but if I have to..." That was true, it also was pretty obvious that if the people behind the man would actually act, she would be swiftly overwhelmed in an open confrontation. Still, as Yang often said, sometimes confidence alone can win you fights. Or let you avoid them.

"You can still avoid all that girly. We ain't have any need for you anymore, yer free to go. Before you can tell anyone what be going on in here, we'll be gone from this place." As she heard the man's words, Ruby glanced over her shoulder at the pair of big doors. It wasn't just her against this man, there was also the large group of robed people behind him. Even then she wasn't sure how much chance she had against the man alone. He was a cripple, but he had to have way more experience than her. There was that part inside her that slowly broke into just wanting to back off from this situation. All of that went away with just a single glance at the chained dragon. As Ruby shook her head, she sent an angry glare towards the man. "Have it your way, girly." With that, the man started advancing towards her. Ruby was surprised at how fast he could move, even more so at how quick the swing of his axe was. She didn't let that thought linger too long, she knew she had to be on the offense, be quicker than the man if she wanted to win this.

As soon as she was safe and away from the old man's axe, she swung her sword at him. Once more it surprised her how nimble he was, as he avoided her blade. Still, she wasn't done. She swung and thrust her sword whenever she saw an opening. The man didn't even step back, he simply avoided her, not letting her gain any kind of ground even as she was on full offense.

With each missed swing and with each avoided thrust, it dawned on her why. It wasn't just that this man was more experienced than her. No, that was perhaps a tiny part of the truth. She herself was the issue. Over the last year, she did nothing more than eat, sleep, and work on the sword, with a few side jobs here and there. While even at her best she wasn't the best of fighters, in her current state? She was awful. As if the world wanted to prove to Ruby her own point, at one of her swings, she felt her wrist being caught by the man, which threw her off balance. That seemed to be enough for the man, as soon after Ruby felt a fist quickly and forcefully connect with the side of her face, which sent her stumbling back as she grabbed that side of her face with her free hand. She felt the pain fill her jaw, as the taste of blood filled her mouth. It was a quick punch, but it still hurt. To add oil to the fire, she could feel her heart beating rapidly inside her own chest, her lungs desperately catching for breath.

"If this is your best, you're a lousy hero for your dragon friend, girly." As soon as the man was done, it was his turn. He swung his axe with great speed and precision, which made Ruby barely avoid or parry each swing. The latter often left her losing her own balance and having to take a step back. She knew she was slowly getting cornered by the man. Her entire mind was focused on trying to survive the seemingly wild, yet precise swings of the man. Too much so to notice a simple feint, about which she learned too late. The man lashed his axe, which was way slower than usual, and made Ruby move to the left to avoid it, yet as the man was still advancing forward, he was close enough to send a knee towards her stomach.

The first thing that Ruby felt was pain, which was quickly drowned out by the panic that settled in as she wasn't initially able to draw a breath. The man didn't wait, as he kicked her in the chest with his pegleg, sending Ruby tumbling over the floor. "Yer as stupid as the dragon. We wanted to lure you in so you could be bait for this beast here." The man approached her slowly. Ruby moved up, glad she could breathe again, which send a wave of relief over her body, allowing her to forget about the pain, at least for a moment. "But turns out we didn't have to. The dumb beast came here by its own volition. All we had to do is go with our plan to capture it." As she felt the man getting close, she attempted to push herself up with her arms. An action that was abruptly stopped as she felt a kick against her side, which made her yelp in pain as she once more was sent to the ground. "I even convinced those good people here to let you go. And you're being a stubborn brat about it."

"H-How... How did you know that I had anything to do with her?" Ruby asked, more trying to buy time than anything. What for? She wasn't sure. But the good guys always had something going for them, right? A group that would swoop in to save the day, some lucky circumstances that would create an opportunity for them to not only survive but accomplish what they set out to do, right?"

"Yer eyes betrayed you, lass. I knew there was something fishy bout you just being here to pick grass. After I saw those eyes of yours change like that? I knew it was the beast I sought for so long." The old mercenary took a step forward as he spoke. "This chain waited for her long enough, it sure did."

"So all I have to do is to destroy that chain and you're all done for." Ruby chuckled, which hurt her sides. Did she break some ribs?

The next thing she felt was pain, as the man leaned down to grab her by the hair and raise her up. Ruby gritted her teeth as she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing just how uncomfortable and painful that was. "See this chain here? This isn't just metal. This here is made out of bones and scales of a beast like that one over there. Enhanced to keep it under control. Ye can swing yer sword all ye want, but there's not much that could break it." While this wasn't the best circumstances, it gave Ruby enough time to observe the chain. Thanks to that she could notice the aether strings moving in a certain pattern around the chain. Which meant that this was either dragon magic or specifically Weiss' magic. Her silver eyes glanced to the side where her backpack was. A plan quickly formed inside her head.

She had to act quickly, as the moment she started, she had maybe a second or two before the man would catch up with what she was doing. Just enough time for a little trick. Summoning her magic into the palms of her hand, she shoved it suddenly into the face of the man, as she cast a simple cantrip. A light spell. As the sudden brightness filled his vision, he released Ruby, stumbling back. "Ah, fuck! You lousy whore!" He yelled after her, but Ruby was too occupied with forcing her body to move, as she tried to kill the distance between herself and the bag before the man would regain his vision. With a glimpse of her eye, she caught that the crowd was still unmovingly standing where she saw them previously, which just gave all sorts of creepy vibes to her. Regardless, she had to act quickly. Getting to her bag, she reached for the wooden box on top, that held the sword she made. "A fancier piece of metal won't help ye!" The man called after her, which meant he already had to regain his sight.

Not wanting to wait any moment longer, she rushed towards the chain. While the blade wasn't meant for slashing, this was her best bet. Raising it up above her head, using the momentum of her run, she swung it at the chain with all her might. There was a clang as if two metal objects just hit each other with great force. Ruby could feel the blade vibrate, she could see it cut through the aether line. This had to be it. She grinned as she saw that, waiting for the chain, without its magic, to break. For some magical explosion. It turning into dust. Disappearing. Anything...

...But nothing happened. Yes, the magic was no longer there but the sword didn't make more than a scratch on the surface of the thick chain. "You dumb girl." Ruby could feel the pegleg violently hit her back, forcing her to collapse once more. This time there was no more will inside of her to fight back. It was over. This was her only chance. "Played with ye enough, but we don't have time for that anymore. And as much as I'd love to keep ya around, it ain't worth the effort and issues you'd make us." The man said as he raised his axe.

As death was closing in on her, Ruby felt regrets. She couldn't save Weiss and she would make Yang lose the only family she had. Sure, she had friends, tons of 'em. But she knew that this would make Yang extremely sad. Sad and disappointed. This selfishness on her part would make her sister filled with all kinds of bad feelings. As she took her last breath before the axe would cleave her head in two, she hoped that her sister could move on. That whatever it is they planned for Weiss wouldn't hurt her.

Then there was a dragon roar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cliffhanger! Or something. Maybe. I think. I don't know.
> 
> This would be done super duper quicker and when I was getting close to the last part I thought to myself "Whoa I'll actually finish in a manner that satisfies me" aaaand... Well, I rewrote the last part of this quite a bit. Even now I'm not entirely satisfied but eh... I knew that if I kept on it I would reach a point where it would become a dead-end for me and this chapter (and story) would be postponed for a longer bit. So instead you got this. I hope it's satisfying enough, as I suck at writing any kind of action bits.
> 
> I decided to split this and the next chapter, mostly because I want to try and push out relatively lengthy but not super lengthy chapters, so that they are released often enough. Hope this works for people. Trying to find a middle ground between length and time.
> 
> In other news volume 8 was released and I'll be honest I didn't want to watch it. I even made a point to not watch it. I just didn't really feel like it. For some time now RWBY stopped really being RWBY. It became everything "but" Rwby. Or at least it felt that way for me. It's like that one power rangers season where the main plot was all about side characters and any other characters BUT the "main" characters who were there just because ... Well, they were part of the title (You know, power rangers!). Hey, I like power rangers, even the latter "Season"/incarnations.  
> I said I didn't want to which implies I did because that's exactly what happened. Someone convinced me to give it a chance and I did. It was meh. I mean, it was okay I guess. I hate when they split the team and I hate how they did it. Yang going against Ruby WHO IS HER YOUNGER SISTER as the WORLD AROUND THEM is basically ending for them and a lot of people is the dumbest thing they ever pulled out. It's dumber than Qrow teaming up with Tyrian to get Clover. And I had to get it off my chest. I won't nitpick the episode, but this, Yang's behavior, is the stupidest thing. She first is sad that Blake left her and now she's doing the same thing TOWARDS HER SISTER. Amazing. Even if they wanted to split them, they could do a better job. Make them act differently, say different things, show a different kind of motivation. For how it was done? It was dumb.
> 
> Well, with that off my chest, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	6. The Dragon

As soon as the roar echoed inside the big barn, chaos followed. The robed figures started to run towards the exit on the opposite of the Dragon side, screaming, pushing, and running over one another in an attempt to escape. Ruby glanced to the side only in time to see the shards of the collar that bound the dragon before dropping onto the ground with a loud thud. As she looked up and behind, she only caught a glimpse as the dragon caught the old mercenary in its maw and flew up, destroying the ceiling of the barn. Turning around, she observed as the dragon released... No, threw the man or its body far away. From what she could see, he was in one piece, so Weiss didn't eat him.

A loud crashing sound brought her attention back to reality, as she noticed that the barn wasn't as stable of construction as she thought. Given, considering its size, but once Weiss tore part of the ceiling off, the whole building started to collapse on itself. No, she didn't just survive that fight only to die because of a wooden building falling on her head.

Gritting her teeth she pushed herself off the ground. An action that proved to be a mistake, as her body was already at its limit and it could only go on pure adrenaline for so long. Not to mention the pain in various places of her body that suddenly overwhelmed her. It all combined, making her vision spinning. While she succeeded in standing up, she stumbled around, trying to regain her balance. She knew that if she'd fallen down again, it would be over.

That proved to be more difficult, as the ground started to be littered with various types of rubble. As her daze started to pass, her luck was short-lived as her feet stumbled upon a piece of wood, which was too much for her balance at that moment. As she hit the ground, she felt a sharp pain at the back of her head. After which darkness overcame her.

oooOOOooo

It all felt like such a disappointment. Her entire life, dedicated to her selfish desires. Only when it all became bare before her like this, did she understand how pointless it all was. There wasn't anything to gain from it, was there? No, of course not. It was all for nothing and in the end? In the end, that was where she fell. In the empty pit of her accomplishments. For every step forward she took two steps back. For herself and everyone around her.

All she could do was to just exist, watching her life be enacted like a bad play. It was all done in a mere second. Everything she did, every moment she remembered, and many more that she has forgotten. Again and again, as if to remind her of what she became in the end. Was this hell? Perhaps. It's sad that it all dawns on you once it's too late. What was even sadder was that if given another chance, more often than not, you just make the same mistake.

While all of it was unrevealed before her, the darkness was cut by a sudden light. Without anything else to focus on, her eyes were drawn towards it. Among it appeared a figure. It was a familiar figure, one that she remembered, even if hazily. It wasn't an angel, as she expected from being dead. Although this figure had a lot of white on... On her. It was a she. As her eyes got used to the light or perhaps the light itself became less intrusive, she recognized the face. Standing in her white cloak was her mother.

As soon as she realized this, she reached out towards her. All this time she hoped to one day be reunited with her. Even if her memories of her were always so incomplete, even if the moments with her were mostly from stories of other people, even if she only knew her from tales, she desperately wanted to once more be together with her. With her mom.

The woman smiled warmly at her daughter, but as the younger girl tried to advance towards her, she merely shook her head, slowly backing away into the light.

Ruby wanted to scream after her, yell in frustration, make any kind of sound. But that wish wasn't granted to her. As she watched Summer disappear into the light, she caught one last detail of her mother.

Silver eyes.

oooOOOooo

Pain, not sharp nor sudden, filled her entire body. If there were taste and an aftertaste to food, this would be the aftertaste of all the pain dealt to her earlier. Opening her eyes, she saw a pair of blue eyes. She saw Weiss' face. That meant she wasn't dead... Or maybe she actually was dead? Was it all a dream? That thing from before? It had to be, her mom couldn't be dead. She's out there, somewhere. Besides, why would she have...

"You're awake! Thank the creator." Weiss' words brought Ruby's thoughts to a stop, as the concerned dragon girl leaned over her. "I was worried." From her perspective, Ruby could guess that she had to be laying on the ground, with her head on top of the dragon girl's lap. This did bring memories.

"Hey." Ruby simply greeted the other girl, trying to smile, and even after accomplishing that, however small the smile was, she could swear even this much made her body ache.

"How do you feel? It was four years, I almost lost hope for you ever waking up." Weiss stated with a worried expression.

"F-Four years?!" At that Ruby tried to move up, but midway through a sharp pain stopped her and forced her body to involuntarily twist. Weiss had to notice that, how couldn't she, and pushed her back down. This didn't help with the pain as such it made her grimace some more. "H-How could it be four years? What happened?!" Did Weiss cast a spell? She couldn't mean four real years, right? What about Yang, she has to think she was dead by now. What about her life back in the city? Her workshop, her dream, everything.

"Four years, four hours, same thing." Weiss waved her hand dismissively. Ruby was so shocked at first, that it took her a moment to notice the smirk that blossomed on the dragon girl's lips. "Time is such a feeble thing for us, dragons."

"T-That wasn't funny." Ruby let out a small sigh. She already felt panic building up inside of her, which she could still feel, even if slowly replaced by relief.

"You know what else wasn't funny?" At the dragon girl's words, Ruby felt her face being grabbed by her cheeks and have them squished, feeling her gaze being turned towards Weiss' face and the angry expression she wore. Not that it hurt, but it sure wasn't something comfortable. "Getting yourself almost killed." She spoke in a calm but extremely cold tone of voice.

"I was trying to help." Ruby replied slowly, having a bit of difficulty in forming proper words as her face was grasped by the white-haired girl.

"Do you know how awful I would feel if you'd die because of me? I can endure humiliation because of my own stupidity, but the guilt of having your life on my hands?" This reminded Ruby just how cold Weiss' eyes could truly be.

"B-But it all worked out, right?" The redhead tried to argue.

"Yes, with some luck things didn't end up horribly wrong. But a moment too late and I'd just have your cold body on my lap." Weiss grimaced at that, to which Ruby simply lowered her eyes. Luck huh? Even Weiss thought that she was a failure, simply sliding through life in an opportunistic manner.

"Are you hurt?" The sudden change of topic only partially helped to distract Ruby from the feeling of disappointment she had in herself.

"A little bit, but I'll be fine." She shrugged.

"Can you sit up?" Weiss asked, scanning Ruby's body as if she could notice any injuries.

"I think so." Ruby nodded.

"Good, come on, up you go." Weiss said as she helped her up. "Carefully." She said, noticing the grimace on the redhead's face. It didn't escape Ruby just how delicate, soft, and warm the dragon girl could be if needed. Completely opposite of the cold gaze she received just a moment ago.

"Look, I'm really so-" Ruby stopped as she felt her face being grabbed again. Closing her eyes she expected another scolding as if the one from before wasn't enough. But no, this time it was different. Both hands rested on her cheeks and brought her face closer to Weiss'. Soon she felt their foreheads touch and as she dared to open her eyes, the only sight before her were the blue eyes of the dragon girl she was so used to seeing, even if it was a year since she saw them last. No, something was different. There was a scar over her eye. Why? Weren't dragons immune to man-made weapons?

Considering the circumstances, Ruby decided to ignore that, at least for now, and simply focus on Weiss' voice. "Thank you. Regardless of the endless possibilities, the time hid, the outcome of your rescue is that I am free and you're alive." It was a mixture of everything. The soft, warm voice of the other girl, the fact she could peer into her eyes and believe she could see the dragon's soul through them. Finally how close they were, no, not just them, but their faces. It all sent a shiver up Ruby's spine. "It was the blade that you made, which saved us both."

Blade? The blade! "The sword!" Moving away from Weiss, it went over Ruby's head how she just ruined the moment, startling... No, not just startling but outright scaring Weiss with her sudden outburst. Remembering about the weapon, her gift to Weiss, she tried to stand up in order to... To do something, even Ruby wouldn't be sure what exactly she wanted to do, but at that very moment, she wasn't really thinking rationally. As she tried to stand up, as soon as she put pressure on her right leg, the sudden pain that was sent up her spine made her collapse again. "Ouch!" She grabbed her leg out of reflex, curling up on the grass.

"I had to find a human with an idiot complex." Weiss muttered under her breath as she regained her composure and approached the redhead. "Can you be a little more careful? You're still hurt and putting strain onto your own body won't make it any better." The dragon girl commented with a frown, although it was motherly anger, perhaps softened by the previous moment, Weiss' mask was not fully on, her real intent clearly shown on her face.

"Y-You don't understand." As the pain subsided enough, Ruby glanced up at Weiss. "It was a special sword, one I made f-for you. I worked this whole year on it." Ruby could hear herself sound so desperate. For what? That was a good question. There was a lot of things regarding that sword, a lot of them were emotional, to the point where it was hard for her to really understand anything just like that on the spot. Especially if it was lost.

"Calm down, I brought everything you had with you when I brought you here." Weiss shook her head. "I'll get it for you."

"No!" Ruby yelled out, which once more startled and confused the dragon girl, who looked her way, half unsure what to say and half expecting answers. Even her patience had to be running short. "I mean... I'll do it myself. Please." Ruby pleaded, and it took a moment for Weiss, as the white-haired girl looked Ruby over, before she finally gave up and with a sigh, simply moved down to help the girl stand up, wrapping one of her arms around her neck.

"At least let me help you stand up. This time be more careful." Weiss warned her, but there was that tenderness to her voice that Ruby couldn't help but smile at. It was the main motivation behind not wanting to hurt herself... Well, aside from the pain. It was not wanting to worry Weiss, as it was long gone for her to be afraid of the dragon girl.

"Promise." Ruby nodded as she stood up with the help of the other girl. Testing her legs and posture, it took her a moment before she was confident to walk on her own. "I got it." She ensured Weiss, and as the dragon girl reluctantly released her, Ruby looked around. Just as Weiss said, not far from them was her backpack, the wooden box, and the silver blade resting next to it. She smiled at the sight, a smile of relief. She took her first step towards it, feeling her body shake a bit and imagining Weiss reaching out towards her, just in case. Or was it just her wishful thinking? Regardless, she slowly moved towards it. While it was an extra effort, she kneeled in front of it and glanced at it. While she was ready for the worst, after so barbarically hitting the chain with it, the blade was still in perfect condition. Nodding to herself, she placed it inside the box and with it, moved towards Weiss, who, while confused, seemed curious enough to let it all play itself out.

There was something she prepared along with the blade. Something she practiced every night, before bed in front of the blue flame. A speech to go with the gift. While she never was sure if she would be able to actually say it to Weiss, it was another thing that kept her sane. Being able to speak as if she expected Weiss to hear her words. Kneeling, this one on one of her knees, she felt her legs painfully remind her of what a bad idea that was, still she endured. Opening the box, she presented it to the dragon girl. "I..." Ruby began, now not sure what to say. Endless, sometimes sleepless nights of wondering what to say, all these different versions, all those words she came up with... Now gone. "I m-made this, for you. I mean, out of your scale. I-It was an... An honor to um b-be able to work with it." She felt her voice weak, her words stuttering. She felt like a kid, having to give a speech in front of its class for the first time. This thought made it all that much difficult. In a way, she said all she wanted to, but it just felt so... Simple. In her mind and when she practiced, it all took so long, used so many words, sounded far more solemnly.

The dragon girl took the box out of her hands and glanced briefly at the blade. "Are you saying it was an honor to work on a part of my body?" Weiss asked, her brow raised.

"W-What?" Ruby blinked, surprised by the dragon's reaction. "I... Well..."

"Also, you're offering me a gift made out of myself." Weiss leaned with a frown. "Would you feel special if someone gave you a handkerchief made out of your own skin?"

At that, Ruby's eyes went wide. She never thought about it. Weiss knew the purpose behind her wanting the scale, she thought it was normal but... All of those things were correct. This was supposed to be a gift, her masterpiece. Her magnum opus.

"You dolt." At that, Ruby looked up, only to see the soft smile on Weiss' lips as she kneeled in front of her, placing the box to the side. "Do you really think I came back in hopes that you'd have a dragon item ready for me?" Reaching out, Weiss gently grasped both of Ruby's cheeks. "I came back because I hoped to see you again." Being done with her speech, Weiss once more pressed her forehead against that of Ruby.

The redhead was speechless for many reasons. For one, the closeness of their faces made her face heat up, her body grow weak, and her breath quicken. "Me?" She managed to push out, as her confused brain had to know, had to get any kind of answers.

Weiss simply let out a small sigh and pushed the other girl away, lightly, but considering her mental and physical state, it was enough for the girl to land on the ground. "Oof! H-Hey, that hurt." Ruby grimaced, for a moment forgetting about what they were just discussing.

"You'll survive, besides you deserve that for being a dummy." Weiss commented and reached for the blade, looking it over. Perhaps she wasn't well versed with human weaponry or she didn't care, but it didn't take long before she nodded. "I accept your gift."

"You do?" Ruby's face lit up at that. Regardless of the reason, it was enough for Ruby, at least for now.

"Yes, it seems that me being gifted with it means a lot. Besides, it's well made. Physically it's as perfect as one could get and the magical weaving is complex, it would take an archmage to do something like this."

"It was your flame, it... It helped me. That and me being able to see the aether lines." As if afraid that Weiss would assume she got help from an actual archmage, Ruby raised a little as she tried to explain herself.

Weiss simply chuckled at that. "I believe that you made it yourself, don't worry about it."

Ruby let out a sigh of relief. Not a small one, but the deepest, biggest sigh ever in her whole life. The entire year of worrying and hard work and it was a success... At least in her book. Suddenly feeling very light, Ruby laid back on the ground. A different thought briefly sparked in her mind. "Weiss? What exactly happened today?"

"I am unaware of what happened after I... Well, disposed of that scum." Weiss grimaced and turned to the side. "I will admit to letting my anger take the best of me. Sadly before I could come back to my senses it was too late and you were buried under the building they kept me in." Weiss closed her eyes at that. "Luckily you were still alive when I found you. While my healing magic isn't the best, as I couldn't even save a poisoned bunny, I tried to do everything to bring you back to good health." Ruby tilted her head, which explained the injuries she didn't get in the fight.

"What about you?" Ruby asked.

"Me? I'm well and healthy." Weiss' brow raised. Was the scar always there and Ruby just didn't notice? No, it couldn't be.

"Your eye... It has a scar." She raised her hand as if to point at it. "Did they do it? At the village."

Weiss' was shocked at first when Ruby asked about the scar, although her expression quickly changed morose as she lowered her head, allowing for some of her hair to cover up what the redhead just pointed out. "No, that's... That's different. I wasn't injured by those humans. Don't worry about it." It felt almost scary to see the dragon girl like that.

Wanting to quickly change the topic, Ruby decided some thanks were in order. "Thanks, for rescuing me and... Healing me, I think. I guess we're even huh?"

"Oh?" Weiss raised a brow at that, accepting the change of topic, even if she still hid part of her face away from Ruby's sight. "Are you implying that your goal here was to make me "owe you one" hm?" The dragon girl squinted her eyes at that.

"W-What?! No! Of course not, I just..." Ruby started but was quickly cut off by Weiss' chuckle.

"It's quite enjoyable to tease you, are you aware?" The white-haired girl smirked as she glanced down at Ruby.

The redhead, on the other hand, didn't feel as amused by it, as she puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "Well, I didn't know dragons enjoyed bullying others like that! Hmpf."

"Perhaps, but it's not my fault that you're this cute when you get flustered." Ruby was taken aback a bit by Weiss' words. Even the dragon girl turned away from her. For whatever reason? She wasn't sure. Perhaps she herself was flustered? Or she simply didn't pay much attention to such things. Dragons could take things differently, after all. "I left you a moonstone in your backpack. It will let you travel back to your city." While Ruby was glad for this sudden change of topic, since it avoided awkward silence, she wasn't sure where this was going... No, that wasn't right. She knew exactly where this could be going. "I thank you for the help and the gift. Perhaps we'll see each other in the future."

"No!" Ruby called out after the girl. And as she stood up and threw herself at Weiss, she could feel her entire body protest in pain. But she didn't care. Nor did she care that her body was yelling at her to stop, as well as she did not care for angering Weiss with this tackle like action.

As their tumble across the grass came to an end, Weiss glared up angrily at Ruby. "What are you doing?!"

She was met with Ruby's face, already in tears as she leaned over the dragon girl. "I didn't come here to save you... I mean I did, but... But even back then, when I hoped you'd come back on the day you gave me the scale, I wanted to... To tell you that... To offer that you'd come back with me." Ruby shook her head, letting her bangs cover part of her eyes. "I'd rather chase the wind if you leave, then go back home and pretend to have a normal life. Because I can't. The last year was torture and I... I can't. Even the thought of going back to that is enough to fill me with fear." She closed her eyes, which just squeezed out some extra tears from her eyes. As she felt her face being warm, the tears felt like liquid iron moving down her cheeks. "I'm sorry I just... I can't. I can't go on, not without you." Those were her last words that she could push out before sobs overtook her. It felt so pathetic, her begging Weiss like this. Dragon, who was a creature of pride, what did it have to think of her, lowering herself like this.

"You dummy." Weiss commented, and it made Ruby open her eyes. Once more, she saw the same soft smile. Warmth behind her blue eyes. Just like her blue flame. "Come here." Weiss wrapped her arms around Ruby and pulled her closer. As soon as she felt Weiss' chest against her face, she didn't try to control her crying anymore. She felt the dragon girl's hand gently moving along the back of her hair, brushing her hair with her pale fingers. It felt both amazing and horrible, as her tears were both of happiness and sadness. Happiness because she could be close to Weiss and sadness, as she wasn't sure if this wouldn't be the last time. Again.

Minutes, hours maybe even days. Ruby wasn't sure how long it took her before she could calm herself down. Before it made sense for her to calm down. Afterwhich, she felt weak, both physically and mentally. Yet she still felt herself cling to Weiss, afraid that the girl would actually leave. Instead, the dragon girl spoke. "Would you really have me?" Ruby wasn't sure if it was enough, and while she wanted to scream the answer out, all she could muster was a nod against her chest. "Would you keep my secret with you? No matter who it is, even your own family?" There was another nod. Was this a swear-in ceremony? "You are aware that if anyone would learn my secret, it could bring great danger to you, me, and those around us?" Danger? What kind of danger. Regardless, Ruby was ready to take on the whole world. She simply nodded.

"I see." Was all that Weiss said to that.

oooOOOooo

As if to mock her, it was the rain that greeted her first once she arrived in the city. Heavy droplets of water hit her hood and cloak, as she tried to protect herself from it. The cold and humid air didn't help with her bruised up body. The sky was gray and the dark clouds promised much more than just rain, perhaps a storm? It was like this place was pushing her away. Even though all of this, the market, which was one of the first places she had to walk through, was as lively as always. It would stay this way even if an actual storm would happen, more likely then not.

It was always this place that filled her with dread. Not that she was afraid of markets, but slowly walking through this place, or rather squeezing herself through the mass of people, made her aware that she might end up being one of those people that sold their wares here. She never thought of them as less, of course. Far from it, this was the place she ordered her materials. She knew some of those people ever since she started, some even before that. It was just... The opposite of what she wanted. Her own workshop, her own happy life. Career.

Did she throw all of it away? That was a good question. Somewhere in the past year, she understood that she would never become an alchemist, not officially. Yet she kept herself distracted from that, as her heart was aching from a different wound. It all felt like a dream, and now that she woke up from it, she wasn't sure what to think about the reality she once more found herself in. Adventurers guild? Doing what she always did? What was before her? Could she even go back to living as she did before?

Suddenly the giant crowd of people started to part, and even from her spot, she could notice that something was rushing through the mass of people. Before she grew aware of what it was, it was too late. In hindsight she should have expected it, perhaps pick a less populated route to not disturb and annoy random passerby's. The first thing she saw was red. The red eyes of her sister. Fury and anger. She didn't expect anything less from her right now.

"Where the hell were you?! What the hell do you think you're doing disappearing like that?!" There was no hug, no check up. No, Yang grabbed her by the collar and moved against the nearby wall. Ruby had to imagine that the fact she wasn't actually raised in the air and hit against the wall was her sister's way of being glad she was alright. At least alive.

"H-Hey Yang." Ruby smiled sheepishly.

"Is this a joke to you? You collapse on me and then disappear for a whole day. Nobody saw you even leave the city." Yang stated angrily. "I almost burnt half the city when I demanded a search party for you and got rejected."

"I-I can explain this, I promise." It was rare for Ruby to see Yang like this. Even rarer to have it directed her way. It was scary, which in a way would amuse Ruby, if she wasn't actually scared, since Yang managed to induce fear in her, where the dragon could not.

"Oh, you will." Yang agreed angrily. "For the past year you've been acting like something possessed you and after this stunt, you'll tell me everything. I'm done giving you time, if its harsh love you need to straighten yourself, I'll be more than happy to apply that because..." Yang wasn't able to finish, as someone interrupted her.

"Excuse me." As if shocked that someone did dare to interrupt her, Yang's head spun back to glance over her shoulder. Standing there was a lithe silhouette wearing white robes and a light blue cloak with a hood over her head, for the same reason Ruby did wear hers. To avoid the rain. "Your sister was... Hurt, while she's better now, I would recommend not being so harsh with her."

"And who the hell are you?!" Yang barked at her, squinting her eyes.

"T-That's... That's Weiss. She's um... an elf friend and part of the explanation." Ruby said, trying to stop this scene from actually becoming a fight.

That seemed to ease some of the anger, as Yang glanced between the two girls. Ruby knew this would be a long day.

oooOOOooo

"So after I told you about the dragon, you hoped to see this... Weiss, right? This elf again. You used a moonstone and when you came there, those idiots managed to capture a wyvern that later got freed and you two fought to try and save the villagers, even if the wyvern managed to burn the village to the ground." Yang's recap was... Minimalistic, if anything, but it was all they had. It sounded pretty stupid when flatly put like that, but perhaps it was stupid enough to be enough to explain her odd behavior. "And you met this elf, excuse me, Weiss a year ago when she arrived at that village lured again or rather for the first time by those dragon rumors. She was also the one you got your dragon scale from. And she disappeared on you, and when you came back you were just... Sad because of that."

"T-That's about it, yep!" Ruby grinned, although it was far from a happy grin. It was just to cover up how nervous she was feeling as if she introduced a... Boyfriend to Yang? No, a girlfriend, and hoping for her to accept her. The friend that's a girl. Girl friend. Weiss was a girl.

"Then why the hell couldn't you tell me all of this earlier?" Yang squinted her eyes and leaned forward. While she wasn't as openly furious, it was clear she was still angry.

"Well, it... It was embarrassing." Ruby said, which was potentially true. If the story they made up was real, she'd feel a bit embarrassed.

At that, Yang slammed both her hands against the table, which brought the attention of the entire inn. Something that Yang couldn't care less for. "Embarrassed?! Embarrassed she says!" The blonde said in disbelief and covered her face. "Ruby you were acting like a completely different person and you couldn't tell me, your sister because you felt embarrassed?!"

Ruby shrunk in her seat and closed her eyes. "I-I'm sorry. It was just... The amulet from mom got ruined, I realized how pointless all of this was and how selfish I was and everything and then when I came back I started missing Weiss. It just... It all piled up." This was the truth, this was something she couldn't hide from her sister. Not anymore. "I started feeling useless." Ruby felt a hand rest on her arm, glancing to the side she saw a small smile from Weiss, who agreed to let the two have this talk without interrupting them. Too much.

"Rubes, you were never useless. You learned so much, you just decided to direct it in such a fruitless direction." As Yang reached out to grab her hand, she finally had the courage to look back at her sister. There was no more anger behind her eyes, who turned back to being lilac. Just a worried smile. "If anything, I'm upset you kept it inside for so long. You know you can talk to me about anything."

Ruby smiled at that, twisting her hand a little to grip Yang's hand in return.

"And you." Yang used her free hand to point at Weiss.

"Me?" The dragon girl frowned.

"If all this is true, Ruby became like this because of you. Things were fine before she met you, so you better take responsibility." As much as Yang tried to look angry, there was something playful behind her eyes and as a small smirk bloomed on her lips, Ruby was sure her sister wasn't serious about her words. What did she mean? That wasn't really clear to the redhead. She was just happy that whatever she just directed at Weiss wasn't bad or at least too serious.

"She stumbled onto me, I don't see why I should be the one to take responsibility." Weiss tilted her head to the side.

"Well, for one you decided to keep her. You did came back with her, seem like a big enough reason." Yang grinned at that.

"Hey, can you two stop talking about me like one I wasn't here and two like I was some lost puppy?!" It was Ruby's time to frown in annoyance as she looked between the two of them.

"Speaking of not being here, I think I'll do that." Yang said as she stood up and stretched. "I should stick around, but I'll let you show Weiss around and you're propably tired." Yang explained, before raising a finger. "But, no more remaining in that workshop of yours like you're some kind of vampire hiding from sunlight. Got that?" Yang finished and aimed that same finger at Ruby.

"Yes, yes. Aside from work, of course." The redhead nodded.

"Nuh-huh, you're taking a week... No, two weeks off." Yang announced with a nod.

"Two weeks?! Yang, I can't go two weeks without working!" Ruby protested. She wasn't that financially secured.

"You can, I'll fund it. It's a "welcome back from being not yourself" gift. Besides, you could use a day or two or fourteen to show Weiss around, let her meet the local people, and all that. Show her that humans aren't that bad, no?" At that Yang flashed a grin at Weiss, who just shrugged in response.

Ruby grunted but decided it wasn't the best time to argue with Yang. Besides, if this is what her sister wanted? Fair enough. She caused her enough trouble for the past few days... No, not just days, but for the last year. "Fine. But no more than two weeks."

"Yea yea." Yang was about to leave but stopped herself midstep. "Also, sis?"

"More demands?" Ruby asked, feigning annoyance.

"Kind of. Don't do anything I wouldn't. At least not too soon. You know, no need to rush things." Yang nodded sagely as if this was some deep wisdom.

Which, considering how confused by it Ruby was, it might as well be. "What are you talking about now?"

Yang simply chuckled. "Oh you know, stuff. Anyway, keep my words in mind, you'll figure them out soon." With one last wave, to both her sister and Weiss, the blonde disappeared into the crowd of the inn.

"Being weird runs in the family I assume?" Weiss asked, and Ruby couldn't help but giggle at that. Not just at her words, but at how true they were.

oooOOOooo

"Welcome to my little kingdom!" Ruby announced as soon as Weiss was inside her home. The redhead spread her arms as if to show what she had in mind, offering a smile. While it wasn't the biggest house around, it was her workshop and a place she lived and could maintain, which was good enough for her to be considered a kingdom.

"It's tidier than I expected." Was Weiss's first words as they entered. The dragon girl took a few steps inside and moved a finger against the nearest furniture, checking it for any dust.

"W-What's that supposed to mean?!" Ruby puffed her cheeks, just when did she give off a sloppy vibe?

"Hm?" Weiss raised a brow at her reaction. "I just expected more chaos. Aren't creative types always proud of their surrounding being a mess?"

"O-Oh." Ruby looked around, more to really buy herself some time to understand if what Weiss just said was an insult or not. "A-Anyway, I'll show you around! There's not much, but I really like it here, hope you'll like it too!" Not waiting for Weiss' approval, she grabbed the dragon girl's hand and pulled her. "This is my workshop and..." Ruby started explaining before even opening the doors, and stopped frozen in place as soon as she did open them. "Oh no."

"Oh no? What happened? Did someone break in?" Weiss had to push herself a little bit to glance inside.

"No!" Releasing her hand, Ruby rushed inside. "The flame! It's gone." The furnace she used to store the blue flame was now cold and dark.

Weiss let out a deep sigh. "Of course it's gone, Ruby, it's my flame. I'm here now, you don't need it anymore."

The redhead blinked at that. "Wait, you mean... You did it?" She glanced at Weiss.

"Yes, I can light your furnace with it if you're ever in need for it." The dragon girl explained casually. "Now, about that tour around your house."

"R-Right!" Ruby smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. She was really on the edge, wasn't she? Perhaps Yang was right. She could use a few days off.

oooOOOooo

"And this is what I consider the living area." Ruby said as they entered her bedroom. "Left doors are where my kitchen is and right is where the bathroom is."

"Where's the dining room?" Weiss asked, glancing around.

"Dining? Oh! No I don't really have one. I mean, I don't really eat alot at home... Well, I didn't. And for the last year I just ate at the workshop, since Yang brought me food." Ruby shrugged.

"Why not?" Ever since downstairs, Weiss was allowed to just look around as she pleased, which she did. Ruby thought that was a good sign, that meant the dragon girl was curious enough to have a look of her own.

"Well, eating out has that social aspect attached to it." Ruby explained and nodded at her own words.

"And?" Weiss asked, turning her attention back to the human girl.

Ruby sighed in defeat. "And I can't really cook."

"Then why have a kitchen in the first place?" Weiss' brow raised at that revelation.

"Well... Because you need one?" Ruby smiled nervously and shrugged.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're such a dolt." Perhaps wanting to change the topic or just outright curious, Weiss glanced towards the bed and then at Ruby. "So where's a spot that I will use to rest?"

At that Ruby's eyes went wide. That was the one thing she didn't consider. The one thing yet the biggest of them all. "I uh... You'll take the bed! You're my guest and all. I..." Ruby chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. "I'll roll out a bedroll! That's it. At least till we figure a better solution."

"No. I don't need to sleep and you still need to heal and that requires a good amount of rest." Weiss explained calmly.

"But I can't allow you to sleep on the ground." Ruby protested.

"I don't need to sleep. So you don't have to worry about it." Weiss turned fully towards Ruby and crossed her arms.

"No! I refuse to sleep in the bed if you're not sleeping in one." Ruby stomped her feet. It was her house and she made the rules!

"Fine, we'll do it your way." Weiss chuckled and simply shrugged.

Ruby tilted her head in confusion, not used to just winning arguments like that. "Eh?"

oooOOOooo

This... This was not what she expected. In a way, everyone won. Yet Ruby felt like... Well, not like she lost. More like she didn't deserve her prize. Like it was too much and she was aware of it and yet they wouldn't let her give the prize back. She was tired beyond belief, yet because of the said prize, she was not able to sleep. She felt nervous, excited, happy, worried, all at once. And the reason was laying beside her.

"You can't sleep?" Weiss asked softly. It was a fair question. It was quite late and they decided to head to bed at least an hour ago if not longer. "Is it because of me?" Weiss let a small sigh out. "It has to be. I should simply find a different place for tonight."

"N-No! No..." Ruby spun as fast as she could and place a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "D-Don't, it's just..." She moved her hand away. "I'm nervous." Ruby admitted. She wasn't sure why she felt this way, not entirely, but she did feel nervous.

"Silly, we already slept next to each other. I'd think my true form would make you more nervous than a shape similar to yours." Weiss commented and reached to move a single rebel bang off of Ruby's forehead.

"W-Well, you'd think that huh?" Ruby chuckled. "I'm not letting you rest because of my insomnia, aren't I?" After being corrected countless times, Ruby learned to use the word rest instead of sleep. If only to not let her own eyes roll out of orbits.

"You shouldn't be as concerned about me as you should be about yourself." Weiss said and perhaps she thought her words might have come off as too harsh, she reached to pet Ruby's cheek, smiling. "I'll be fine."

Ruby nodded at that, yet as she was able to see Weiss' face up close like this, her eyes were overtly guided towards the scar over her eye. "Hey, Weiss?"

"Mmm?" The dragon girl hummed, letting Ruby know she had her attention.

"Can I ask you something? But you might get mad at me for asking that." Ruby felt herself grow anxious but... She was worried. About Weiss and what could have happened.

"I think you asked for similar permission some time ago." Weiss chuckled. "Go ahead, ask your question."

"What... What happened? To your eye. I thought dragons couldn't be harmed in this way." Weiss' reaction made Ruby regret her question to the fullest. It wasn't anger, nor her storming out of the bed. No, it was just... Sadness. Pure, unfiltered sadness that changed her face.

"A dragon cannot be harmed by a man-made weapon, but a dragon can still harm another dragon." Weiss explained and turned to lay on her back, eyeing the ceiling. "It was my own blood that did this to me, to punish me."

"But why? What did you do wrong? I don't understand." Ruby pressed her lips tight, she wasn't sure what she expected to hear that would sound good in the context of Weiss getting hurt, but this was perhaps the worst of it all. Wasn't that her family?

"Because I got too close to the human world." Weiss explained, which just confused Ruby further. Too close? Didn't she enter the human world?

"Is it illegal?" Instead of asking for every little detail, Ruby decided to skip a bit, hoping she'd figure things out from the context of things. Worst case scenario she'll ask for clarification.

"There's a... saying? No, more like a word of wisdom from those who were before the others." Weiss blinked and cleared her throat. "That means from older to younger, in a way. Regardless, they say that dragons should not get too involved in the mortal world, because once they do, they'll start experiencing time and all its flaws like the mortals."

"Flaws?" No, there was no skipping questions. Ruby had to act like the dum dum she was when it came to dragons.

"Yes, there's nothing more horrifying for a dragon than a feeling of melancholy or nostalgia. As time is not part of our nature, it is a mind-shattering task to comprehend such feeling inside of us." Weiss finished with a small sigh.

"Is... Is that what happened? To you, I mean. Did you get too close?" It was such an odd concept for her, yet she tried to think in terms of what dragons perceived as normal. At least from her human perspective.

"Yes. After I came back and after my punishment, I found that... I miss the time we spent together." Weiss tilted her head to look at Ruby. "I wasn't sure what to do, and since I remembered that mortals like to celebrate certain time intervals, I decided to visit the place we met once a year would pass by." The dragon girl let out a small groan. "But since we are unable of comprehending the flow of time, I decided to count each second, minute, hour, day, and week till I finally came to a year." Weiss turned her head to look at the ceiling again. "You know the rest."

Ruby was shocked. Not just to hear all of this, but for Weiss to be this... Open. This honest. If anything, this made Ruby want to tear up. Yet she fought not to as she decided against it. There were enough tears today. While she wanted to make her move as quickly as possible, it became clumsy halfway through, as her body was still not in its top shape. Still, Weiss allowed for it, as she patiently waited. What for? For Ruby to climb on top of her. Leaning down, the redhead did, what she learned from Weiss. Moving to place her forehead against that of the dragon girl. "Thank you. For coming back. For everything."

Weiss didn't comment on that. She simply remained in that same position with her eyes closed, as she wrapped her arms around the human girl. After a while, she pulled her closer. "You should try and get some sleep, Ruby." Was all she said.

The redhead smiled to herself, as she rested on top of Weiss, curling up a bit, she just hoped that she wouldn't make this too uncomfortable for the dragon girl. But as she felt the embrace tighten, she decided to trust Weiss with this. At least for tonight without questioning anything else.

While in the end, her quest didn't allow her to join the alchemist guild, she found something much more filling in her life. Something much more precious.

She found herself a dragon to love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho'boi, there's so much I wanted to talk about in regards to this, as it sort of came to an end. Well, sort of. Maybe that'll be a good point to start.  
> If some things seem very open-ended or vague, that's because I decided to leave them be for the time being. As midway through this story I already started planning for the sequel, I thought that instead of rushing or trying to make a compact solution for things, I'd simply give it a more lengthy chance to find a resolution. I know, a clever excuse. Maybe, or a crappy one.
> 
> I'm not sure when I got this idea first. Maybe a year ago? Maybe even more. At the time being, it was a very different idea. There were a blacksmith and a girl who wanted to become one and a village and... Well, things were similar but different. I'm actually happy that I found a way to write this story and be satisfied with it. It was very fun to work on.
> 
> It also proved, if only to myself, that having short stories becoming pieces of something bigger is a way more efficient way of writing stories. It lets me plant little seeds that people might or might not notice, only to reveal them later. Well, at least I try.
> 
> Another thing I had fun with was dragon lore. While the time thing was obviously "inspired" by Skyrim, since I always thought it was cool for dragons to be in some way aspect of something far more important than just fire, which they are often associated with. It also worked for the story. And while it's probably not that original and other folks made it part of their headcanon/lore/whatever, the forehead/head-to-head thing as a means of a very intimate act, like a hug of sorts. I just thought that if dragons had any kind of intimate actions that were more subtle, it would fit their physique and everything. I Don't know, it also just seemed cute enough. Nothing wrong with cute dragons.
> 
> So I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as this story.
> 
> Also since I was such a bummer about the first episode of volume 8, I decided to share something more positive. I actually enjoyed the second episode. It's like, if you focus on the episodes themselves, it's not that bad, it's entertaining. It's just that whenever you look at the bigger picture OR the bigger picture is mentioned by the episode itself, it all falls apart. Also, I'm still calling BS on Yang in ep.1.  
> Regardless, here hoping for more entertainment from the show.


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